I looked at this tiny, perfect creature and it was as though a light switch had been turned on. A great rush of love flooded out of me.
Interpretation
The quote expresses an overwhelming feeling of love triggered by the sight of a beautiful creature.
In this quote, Madeleine L'Engle captures the moment of profound emotional connection that often arises when one encounters something truly beautiful or innocent, such as a small creature. This experience acts as a catalyst, igniting feelings of love and compassion that may have been dormant, illustrating how beauty can evoke deep emotional responses and change our perspectives.
In practice
In a speech about parenting, one could say, 'Just like Madeleine L'Engle expressed, when I look at my child, love floods over me in an unexplainable way.'
Truth is what is true, and it's not necessarily factual. Truth and fact are not the same thing. Truth does not contradict or deny facts, but it goes through and beyond facts. This is something that it is very difficult for some people to understand. Truth can be dangerous.
George MacDonald gives me renewed strength during times of trouble--times when I have seen people tempted to deny God--when he says, "The Son of God suffered unto death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like his.
If you don't recount your family history, it will be lost. Honor your own stories and tell them too. The tales may not seem very important, but they are what binds families and makes each of us who we are.
I never want to lose the story-loving child within me, or the adolescent, or the young woman, or the middle-aged one, because all together they help me to be fully alive on this journey, and show me that I must be willing to go where it takes me, even through the valley of the shadow.
The minute we begin to think we have all the answers, we forget the questions.
When we believe in the impossible, it becomes possible, and we can do all kinds of extraordinary things.
You can do this" I murmured. "You are my brother. I love you. All the embarrassing bits, all the annoying bits, which I imagine is most of you--a thousand Zias might run away from you if they knew the truth. But I won't. I'll still be here.
The problem with idealizing love is that it causes us to develop unrealistic expectations about what love actually is and what it can do for us.
Feelings dwell in man; but man dwells in his love. That is no metaphor, but the actual truth. Love does not cling to the I in such a way as to have the Thou only for its " content," its object; but love is between I and Thou. The man who does not know this, with his very being know this, does not know love; even though he ascribes to it the feelings he lives through, experiences, enjoys, and expresses.
To care passionately for another human creature brings always more sorrow than joy; but at the same time, Elinor, one would not be without experience. Anyone who has never really loved has never really lived.
Go out into the world today and love the people you meet. Let your presence light new light in the hearts of people.
The fragility of love is what is most at stake here—humanity's most crucial three-word avowal is often uttered only to find itself suddenly embarrassing or orphaned or isolated or ill-timed—but strangely enough it can work better as a literal or reassuring statement than a transcendent or numinous or ecstatic one.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.