George MacDonald

Adela Cathcart was in her late teens and quite ill, what one doctor termed “an affliction of the soul.” We call it depression. Adele’s family and friends gathered to share stories with her as story-telling therapy. She attended Christmas worship, and the minister said in the sermon, “The winter is the childhood of the year. In the childhood of the year came the child Jesus, and into the childhood of the year we must descend. It is as if God spoke to each of us according to our need, ‘My son, my daughter, you are growing old and cunning; you must grow as a child again with my Son, this blessed birth time. You are growing old and selfish; you must become a child. You are growing old and careful; you must become a child. You are growing old and distrustful; you must become a child. You are growing old and petty, and weak, and foolish; you must become a child—my child, like the baby there, that strong sunrise of faith, and hope and love, lying in his mother’s arms in the stable.'” It’s a telling excerpt from George MacDonald’s (1824-1905) book, Adela Cathcart. MacDonald, who had 11 children of his own, was masterful at writing novels and short stories for children. Contrary to Victorian ideals, he believed children’s imaginations should be cultivated, not curbed. He wrote stories for children of all ages to “wake things in the reader” and stir them to deeper faith. When the disciples asked Jesus who was greatest in the kingdom of God, he called a little child to him and said, “Truly, I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 18.3). We join with MacDonald in praying an excerpt from his poem, “Broken Prayer,” for God to lead us in childhood trust: