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Excerpted Inspirations #222

  • Writer: Linda Odhner, with photos by Liz Kufs
    Linda Odhner, with photos by Liz Kufs
  • 2 days ago
  • 0 min read
The loft is a lovely, big, bare room that smells of the ocean. It’s always filled with light that moves, because it’s reflected from the water. There’s a line of windows across the ocean side, so there’s no pictures there, either. But on the opposite wall Grandfather had painted a poem which we all love. It’s by Thomas Browne, another of Grandfather’s favorites, and this is what it is: If thou could empty all thyself of self, Like to a shell dishabited, Then might He find thee on the ocean shelf, And say, “This is not dead,” And fill thee with Himself instead. But thou art all replete with very thou And hast such shrewd activity, That when He comes He says, “This is enow Unto itself – ’twere better let it be, It is so small and full, there is no room for Me.” I think that poem must have a good influence on us. We always seem to be more thoughtful of other people when we’re at Grandfather’s than we are anywhere else. Or maybe it’s Grandfather himself. He’s always thinking about what will make other people happy, and I don’t think anyone could be unhappy around him for very long. Mother said no one could, and that was why he was such a wonderful minister. -Madeleine L’Engle, Meet the Austins (1960), p. 156

 
 
 

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