I didn't plan on leaving this much time between Part 1 and Part 2! To be honest, I found this a very difficult book to get through.  Since I prefer to get the information and do what I want with it, I struggled with Edith Schaffer's  long personal examples and somewhat disorganized writing style. While I can not recommend the time needed to read this book in entirety I can comment on some of Mrs. Schaffer's points.

Mrs. Schaffer's emphasis is on expressing creativity and beauty in everyday life. Specifically, she discusses, music, painting, sketching, interior decorating, and gardening, just to name a few.  She gives many examples and lots of encouragement on how to go about this. She states specifically that this, "doesn't mean that we should drop everything to concentrate on trying to develop into great artists. But it does mean that we should consciously do something about it."  It is too easy to get caught up in our day to day tasks and not only forget to be thankful for them but forgot to see God and His beauty in them.  Expressing His beauty in our lives must involve "discipline in time and energy." It takes a conscious effort to take an extra step in preparing something new for dinner or in writing a handwritten card to an old friend.

After looking into Mrs. Schaffer I was surprised at the narrow focus of this book. The foundation she began with her husband, called L'Abri had a much more complete explanation.

One of their four main emphases in teaching states:

Because Christianity is true it speaks to all of life and not to some narrowly religious sphere and much of the material produced by L'Abri has been aimed at helping develop a Christian perspective on the arts, politics and the social sciences etc.

We are as concerned for living as we are for thinking and from the beginning the concern has been that the truth is as much exhibited in everyday life as it is defended in discussion.

As Mrs. Schaffer affirms, we should be looking to reveal God, but as L'Abri states, this should be in EVERYTHING. I reveal God's glory in ALL that I do and say, in the manner by which I live, in the warmth(or lack there of) in my home and in the love I show to others. I appreciate Mrs. Schaffer's reminder to look for those 'hidden' ways to express beauty but I believe that we must take it much further. "For we are His workmanship, created  in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).