One Thing Is Needful

Fifteen years ago, Maureen declared she would write no more books. Four were enough. And she cited Solomon, Of the making of books there is no end. So why a fifth? Maybe it is simply that she kept on living. What you hold in your hand is her autobiography, written in the third person. I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us. It was during the home stretch of the Great Depression that Maureen began life in Philadelphia in a vibrant evangelical home, a warm and humble place with the flavor of scalding tea and the lilt of Donegal, a home still notable for its kindness and contentment. She grew up to prize scrip-ture, the beauty of the Old Testament and the wonder of Christ in the New. College, travel, and teaching three years in Beirut, Lebanon enlarged her vision of the world. She married Ed Read and they had five children, one of whom moved to Heaven when she was just four years old. Over those mid-years she read favorites like C.S. Lewis, Thomas à Kempis, Brother Lawrence, Elizabeth Elliot, who each enriched her familiar evangelical landscape. She had a strong sense of things not seen, yet her feet were fixed firmly in the prose and throes of life. Busy at home, school, and church, she yearned for the One Thing Needful. On a bright Christmas morning she went to a local Orthodox Church and was smitten with the beauty and wonder. It was a point of no return. She presently lives in Walla Walla, WA and is a member of St. Silouan Orthodox Church. Her children and ten grandchildren are her joy, with five small greats thrown in for good measure.