Taking Flight: Wisdom for Your Journey

by Elisabeth Elliot

Graduates are encouraged to maintain a focus on Gods plan for their lives even as they face uncertainty in the adult world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Christian Living, Religion

111 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

From the Author's Web Site: My parents were missionaries in Belgium where I was born. When I was a few months old, we came to the U.S. and lived in Germantown, not far from Philadelphia, where my father became an editor of the Sunday School Times. Some of my contemporaries may remember the publication which was used by hundreds of churches for their weekly unified Sunday School teaching materials.

Our family continued to live in Philadelphia and then in New Jersey until I left home to attend Wheaton College. By that time, the family had increased to four brothers and one sister. My studies in classical Greek would one day enable me to work in the area of unwritten languages to develop a form of writing.

A year after I went to Ecuador, Jim Elliot, whom I had met at Wheaton, also entered tribal areas with the Quichua Indians. In nineteen fifty three we were married in the city of Quito and continued our work together. Jim had always hoped to have the opportunity to enter the territory of an unreached tribe. The Aucas were in that category -- a fierce group whom no one had succeeded in meeting without being killed. After the discovery of their whereabouts, Jim and four other missionaries entered Auca territory. After a friendly contact with three of the tribe, they were speared to death.

Our daughter Valerie was 10 months old when Jim was killed. I continued working with the Quichua Indians when, through a remarkable providence, I met two Auca women who lived with me for one year. They were the key to my going in to live with the tribe that had killed the five missionaries. I remained there for two years.

After having worked for two years with the Aucas, I returned to the Quichua work and remained there until 1963 when Valerie and I returned to the U.S.

Since then, my life has been one of writing and speaking. It also included, in 1969, a marriage to Addison Leitch, professor of theology at Gordon Conwell Seminary in Massachusetts. He died in 1973. After his death I had two lodgers in my home. One of them married my daughter, the other one, Lars Gren, married me. Since then we have worked together.

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book geared toward younger people who are graduating from high school and are getting ready for life. It's a compilation of a bunch of books by Elizabeth Elliot. It deals with seeking pure relationships, some of life's mysteries, and a couple of other good topics.

[Carol Bakker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short book (111 pages) is a collection of Elisabeth Elliot writings from seven previously published books, with a poem young Betty Howard (EE) wrote (see below) and a graduation address added at the end.

The content is excellent. I like Eliott's no-nonsense tone; her bracing voice is unique in the circle of late twentieth century Christian writing. Taking Flight has inclined my desire to read her oeuvre.

She ends the book with a phrase made famous by her brother, Thomas Howard: My life for yours. I was surprised and delighted to discover this phrase (said by Bottom, haha!) in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Act III, Scene 1). Just another enchanting intersection in my reading life.

My thinking on graduation gifts has changed. I used to give a book to graduating friends. I wonder if even one of those books was read. Likely not. A coffee gift card will be redeemed!

And, although I spend hours copying quotes into my journal, reading abridged sections someone else has chosen without their full context isn't as satisfying.

The books are closed.
The sun streams into the library,
And I stand,
Pensive,
Looking beyond the Tower
To the green horizon.
The years have been full—
How transient, they!
Yes, "you'll never forget
Your college days..."
"You step into a cold world..."
Perhaps.
But there is no difference —
The days, Lord, have been Thine.
Thy "Lo, I am with you" is
For tomorrow, too.
Let us remember the way.
But make us press on.
Give us true gratitude
For all the blessing;
Give us pure vision.
Show us the path of life.

Elisabeth Howard, 21, June 1948

[Rebekah]

Short selections from the writings of Elisabeth Elliot. I've read most, if not all of these excerpts from other Elisabeth Elliot books. But they are excellent and worth re-reading many times over.