For Andrew, whom both father and mother judged the dreamiest of mortals, was in reality one of the most practical beings in the whole parish. To him, every truth must be accompanied by some corresponding act. If any of my readers say he was too young to take spiritual things so seriously, I reply by asking if the fact that so few children do take the Lord’s words to heart be justification for discounting what he himself prayed when he said, “I thank thee, O Father, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.” Truly Andrew and Sandy were unusual children in what followed, but unusual because they were more what children were intended to be, not less; more childlike, therefore nearer the heart of God. As Andrew grew through the years, by and by people began to mock him, calling him nothing but a poet and a heretic, because he constantly sought to do the things that they said they believed. Most unpractical must every man appear who genuinely believes in the things that are unseen.

George macdonald, The Landlady’s Master