I think the purpose of chapter 11 is that God will provide if you are patient and if you find joy in life. She keeps mentioning that God gave her exactly what she was looking for. And personally I think that she wanted her readers to experience that joy that is found in waiting. Things are not going to come immediately, especially the things that really matter. We have to be patient and trust in Gods pleasant, perfect timing.
I think in chapter 12, L'Engle is trying to get her readers to understand that we can "Walk on Water" with God if we really want to. L'Engle brings the beautiful book to a close, and in doing so, she says that we can be with God. We can be in relationship we God. We can have God in our lives and physically experience him. We just have to be open and willing to receive him in our own lives.
Chapter 11: The Other Side of Silence
"My guardian angel was certainly working overtime." I loved reading the parts of chapter 11 that talked about L'Engle writing. I love how every time she needed something else - another detail, another character, another plot - she found what she was looking for. Whether she found it through someone else, through a book, or through her life in general, God always placed it right in front of her and I think that is really comforting to know that will do that in our own lives too. He will give us exactly what we need, exactly when we need it.
"Perhaps art is seeing the obvious in such a new way light that the old becomes new."
I think this is such a beautiful quote. In my opinion, it basically describes creativity. I think part of art is finding old, beaten up things, and making them into something new. In one of my art classes a few years ago, we found old lamps and some kind of old decorating tool [crayons, toys, coins, buttons] and created new lamps from whatever we had. I really enjoyed this project because 1. it was something new and 2. we had to make something old into something new... much like Jesus does with us.
Chapter 12: Feeding the Lake
"Vulnerability is something we instinctively reject because we are taught from kindergarten on that we must protect ourselves." I think this quote is 100% true of our society. We try to avoid feeling vulnerable because it is a scary thing. We do not want to give anyone the ability to hurt us, because nobody wants to be hurt. And it's not that there is a problem in protecting yourself. Personally I think protecting yourself is one of the most important things you can do. But I think there's a difference between protecting yourself and hiding yourself from opportunities, and I think we need to make sure that we don't avoid vulnerability. Vulnerability can be an amazing thing if we are sure to protect ourselves in the process.
"We will be pulled out of the water; we won't drown...... My own feet touch the surface of the lake, and I go to meet him, like Peter, walking on water." I think with this quote L'Engle kinda brings the whole book together. She talks about how we meet Jesus. We encounter Jesus, and she uses the story of Jesus walking on water. And how Peter did not believe, so he began to sink. L'Engle tries to get us to see that if we have faith, we can do it... and we can succeed. She ends the book by using the title Walking on Water because that's what she wants to leave her readers with - the image of Jesus helping us "walk on water."
http://tmrichmond3.net/2015/07/01/doing-the-jesus-walk-on-water/