We’re thrilled to share our new story window online as well as with those who drive or walk past it physically…
October sees the Literature Festival dominating Ilkley and so it seemed like the perfect time to ‘publish’ our story window.
The Blossom-Maker is a short story for all ages written by Liz Baddaley – co-founder of the Sanctuary, which we are praying will touch and bless many of the people who will walk or drive past it over the coming weeks.
It is inspired by the beautiful poetry of Isaiah 61 and the Sanctuary’s wrestling with the importance of God’s beauty and was written several months later during a very difficult personal season for the author.
The result is a dynamic, allegorical story whose language and meter move with a dance-like whirling pace – just like the discarded blossom which was shaken and lifted like a snow-globe outside the window of the Sanctuary the May before. (See the blog link above for more details.)
It celebrates God’s creativity, his compassion, his redemption, renewal and transformation. And above all his beauty. As the story puts it, the Blossom-Maker can’t help it… ‘everywhere he walks there’s blossom in his wake’.
We’re thrilled to be sharing the story through our window as part of our vision to see art make love know and are looking forward to filling our other, smaller window during the coming weeks with testimonies of people’s experiences meeting the Blossom-Maker themselves.
And those of us who were there that day in May when the blossom danced outside the window, can’t quite believe the similarity of the effect we have managed to reflect ourselves… as ever, it’s less dynamic and stunning than the blossom dance God created… but hopefully it’s still a glimpse – an invitation for people passing by to respond to the invitation of God’s beauty and renewal.
For a short time only, while the story is in the window, Liz has kindly given us permission to make the story available through our website too. So you can download it here. We hope you are as blessed by it as we all have been.
There are so many thank yous to people who have helped make this possible in different ways from creative advice on making giant books to constructing them to editing down the story to sewing strings of petal together!
Alison Hodson, Barbara Macnish, Emily and Izzy Tysoe, Sandra Wade, Ann Clark, Jill Andrews, Steve Proudlove and of course Liz – who has been willing to share something so precious to her with us. Thank you all so much.