A blossom in the desert

Today I am quite excited, after the arrival of a mail package containing a book. I have long been interested in the life and work of Lilias Trotter, after being introduced to her through the writings of Elisabeth Elliot as a teenager. And I have long wanted her book A Blossom in the Desert (you can read Noel Piper writing about this book here). So, recently I took splurged and ordered it (it was not such a big splurge), and today it arrived.

If you don’t know the story of Lilias Trotter, she was a very talented artist living in England in the 19th Century. Through her art she became acquainted with John Rushkin (artist, critic, social philosopher and prominent figure of Victorian England), who believed “she would be the greatest living painter and do things that would be immortal” (and her contemporary disciples of Rushkin included Millais, Dante Rossetti, Holman Hunt (these three were members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood) and Ford Maddox Brown). Yet she gave up a life devoted to art, and instead worked firstly with the fledgling YWCA in London, then went as a missionary to Algeria in North Africa to reach the Arab people with "the light of the knowledge of God, in the face of Christ". In her book Parables of the Cross (I included a copy of this in my splurge as I don't own in) she writes "The life lost on the Cross was not a sinful one - the treasure poured forth there was God-given, God-blessed treasure, lawful and right to be kept: only that there was the life of the world at stake".

During her 40 years in Algeria she continued to paint, and while not perhaps what they might have been had she devoted herself to the art, her works are beautiful, and through her sketching and paintings of the world around her she often expresses what God has been teaching her about himself. (As a lover of nature her way of observing and writing lights my fire.) Together with her journals they document the seasons of her life in Algeria. (She also published many little devotional books.)

It’s hard to get your hands on her work these days, but I would like to track down more of it. This book is more like an introduction to her writings and artworks. I’m a little disappointed with its design and layout, as it looks a bit cheesy, like one of those coffee-table/gift books with inspirational verses in it. I’d prefer a larger book with a sparser layout of her artworks and text (the pages are busy and there is far too much decorative sort of background happening!), but I do look forward to reading through it. I own and have read Lilias Trotter's biography called Until the day breaks, by Patricia M St John, but that was so long ago now I might need to revisit it.

You might see more of Lilias Trotter's reflections appearing here. (You can also read this fascinating article I have linked before called Lilias Trotter and the Language Nobody Knows.)