George MacDonald, The Diary of an Old Soul, and Me

I first became aware of George MacDonald through the writings of C.S. Lewis.  In particular, Lewis's book The Great Divorce makes use of the trope, so memorably established by Dante in the Divine Comedy, of a literary precursor guiding the writer through the realms of the dead.  Lewis's tale has MacDonald guiding him through Heaven and Hell, just as the Roman poet Virgil guided Dante on his journey through the world of the afterlife.  This is high praise indeed, and indicative of how deeply Lewis felt himself indebted to MacDonald.

I read The Great Divorce during my high school years, but that was not actually my first exposure to George MacDonald.  My family has had a picture hanging on the wall for as long as I can remember.  I believe it was acquired before I was born.

It's a print of a watercolor by Arnold Flaten, a pastor and artist who, as he was dying of cancer in the months before his 76th birthday, made a daily discipline of illustrating MacDonald's poems.  That particular picture is for the February 1 devotion.

I read those words over and over, well before I understood them—before I knew what "dearth" meant or how to interpret the words "right good" in that context.  I liked the picture of the deer.  I certainly had no idea that a certain Scottish minister had written the words words, or that they were taken from a year-long devotional book, or of how the painting came to be made.

But those words have been engraved in me from when I was small boy.  That is the power of words carefully chosen and arranged, and of repetition.  My experience has confirmed for me the first part of the poem, the poverty of my own soul.  I am hopeful that in time I will learn the meaning of the final lines, and "one day be better than I know."

Images of many (all?) of the watercolors that Pr. Flaten made for The Diary of an Old Soul can be found here:

http://www.arnoldflaten.com/watercolor-prints.html