What else am I reading this summer?
In the previous post I shared how I revisited, A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm, a small book I came across in 2021. It did – and is – influencing the way I see Psalm 23 as well as all the references to sheep and shepherds in the Bible!
That is not the only book I'm re-reading. In fact, I realized this year was turning into the year of the re-read. Yes, I'm going through some new books as well. But re-reading beloved books has been inspirational and even instructional!
Beloved books are worth reading over again, especially when they encourage and build up my resolve.
And in 2025, I am returning to my love of a good biography.
There is nothing like a good biography of someone who has traveled through life's ups and downs and has come out on the other end having lived life well. Not perfectly, perhaps not even to success as the world put define success but lived well.
Who they become through life's hazards and ordeals is more impressive than what they have done, though sometimes both are equally admirable.
This hit me as I finished a biography of businessman of the last century earlier this summer. Tom Watson Jr. of IBM was credited with building up one of the most successful companies in the world. His work was not only successful in building an international company, the research and development in the 1950's and 60's influenced much of computer technology today. According to the authors, major tech companies today (Apple, Amazon, Microsoft) have their roots some way, some how, in IBM.
But goodness, the man sounded miserable for most of his life. To reach the pinnacles of worldly success but to be in constant strife with those around you is not something most of us hope for! It was a fascinating book but it seemed to be waving a warning flag about the perils of chasing size and success.
And so, I return to books that tell the stories of people who have done hard things for the right reasons and have come out – through all sorts of misadventures – beautiful in spirit and person.
These books all feature women living somewhere in the late 1800's to the late 1900's. They are all books I've previously read and enjoyed so much I read them again! In August, I'll be starting biographies of men, so maybe I will write about those books in a future post.
The first book I'd like to share (and featured in the new YT series Summer Book Reviews and Paint-with-Me Projects) is A Passion for the Impossible. It is the biography of Lilias Trotter, who was born in London in 1853, written by Miriam Huffman Rockness.
Miriam Rockwell (the biographer) began to gather information about Lilias over the course of several years and then compile it into a book, releasing it in 1998.
Before then, Lilias had vanished somewhat into obscurity. Lilias books are still in print, but they haven't been circulated widely in the present world. (There is also an excellent documentary of the life of Lilias).
Perhaps one of the reasons for that is Lilias's legacy did not result in a big organization or an outcome that can be measured or grasped with metrics. Instead, she was a woman who answered the call on her life and went and served the people in Algeria for over 40 years faithfully, unswervingly, and with great joy.
Lilias had a gift and aptitude for art and painting. The famous John Ruskin said she could've been the most famous woman painter of her day if she had given herself completely over to art!
But when Lilias realized she needed to make a choice of where she would focus her life, she chose to follow God's call on her life and let go of a life potential fame and fortune.
God often gives us back what we give to him. Though Lilias declined acclaim, her art would influence others. She would use it to communicate the love of Jesus to other people, to create books and magazines for those she worked with, to capture the beauty of the Algiers land. Her art continues to live in books.
Lilias was ahead of her time in the area in many areas. Other people learned from her and emulated what she was doing to connect with people and build relationships. She started short terms missions before it was a popular strategy! She organized for young people to come out and live and serve in one of the 13 outposts for a weeks or months, then return home.
Her life was filled with health problems. When Lilias began to apply to mission organizations to be sent to Northern Africa, no mission organization would accept her due to a heart condition. Many people would consider something as significant as a heart condition to be a reason to stay in London, not Lilias! Her health would be a deterrent to all she wanted to do throughout her life, but Lilias did not let her weakness get in the way of the vision and mission.
She knew no Arabic, but that didn't stop her from traveling to Algiers with two friends (Blache and Helen), finding a home, hiring a tutor, and beginning to reach out to the people with the love of Jesus through hosting teas and gatherings. The women were especially destitute, often disowned by family and husbands. Lilias loved them dearly.
You cannot go away without having your faith encouraged to look for where God might want to take your "impossible" and turn it into a possibility.
For the painting part of the "read and paint with me" You Tube session, I came across the protea flower. This flower originates in Australia and South Africa. It thrives in the desert, requires hours and hours of hot sun to thrive and must have soil that drains quickly. Too much water will wilt the protea. This beautiful flower thrives in the desert. Reminds me of Lilias, who not only saw so much beauty in the desert, but bloomed in and through the hard times of life!
In the summer we need to rest. Our souls, spirits, and bodies need to drink from deep waters. I love good mysteries or novels. But they don't fill my spirit like reading about real people who developed faith and resilience through struggling through the challenges and aspirations of their life.
I highly recommend this fine biography, A Passion for the Impossible: The Life of Lilias Trotter by Miriam Huffman Rockness.
The world may not know who Lilias Trotter is. Her work, though beautiful and much admired by Ruskin, is not found in any museum. But though she declined the opportunity to pursue greater skill, fame, and fortune, she did not bury her God given gifts. She used them in a different way, one that reached people's hearts and made God's name known.
Though it appears Lilas wondered about what her life may have been had she chosen differently, there is not a hint of regret or resentment in her journals, writing, or letters.
Instead, she embraced God's call, the choice she made and the love she found both in her union with Christ and with her friends in Algeria. She was a beautiful woman who lived a beautiful life to the fullest.
