So....while the troubadour was here, I loaned him a few books -- one he....ummm....didn't care for..... and two he liked.
The two he liked were from one of my favorite authors - C.S. Lewis. Like many, the first Lewis I read was the Narnia Chronicles. Then I discovered the Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, Mere Christianity, Surprised by Joy.....the list goes on. Lewis approaches our relationship with God and the world in a truly unique way. I felt like sharing a few of my favorite Lewis quotes:
There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, “All right, then, have it your way.”
It seems that so much of my life journey I have spent giving instructions to God. In hindsight, these have been the "Jonah" portions of my life -- the times when I boldly went in the opposite direction. And sometimes, God, very firmly, let me know that it was THY way, not MY that was important.
It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.
I cannot change into what I need to be by doing nothing! And, although it is kinda hard to accept being an egg, good or bad--I accept that I must change. Because no change at all will result in something: me going rotten!
Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.
Perhaps this is the one I love the most, and the one I struggle with the hardest. I keep shoving love in the casket -- hoping to keep it safe. But it is not safe: it changes. It changes, like the egg above, into something rotten. I need to unlock the casket, and risk being vulnerable.
Yes, yes, I know I keep saying it! I need to do it!!! But, again.....I am Jonah.....
4 comments:
he had a brilliant mind and yet expressed things so simply and clearly.
yes, jonah...quite the reminder. thank you.
Jonah is truly one of the stand-out figures when it comes to the Bible...
-how?
His misery.
He is probably the most perfect example of someone who simply goes along and (reluctantly is such an anemic word,)does what he is told to do...
--and then the very folks he is supposed to be ministering to, (and sharing forgiveness with and bestowing Grace upon,(as that was God's choice,) ---repent and yeild completely to God...
-Yet Jonah sits there all miserable and even further so, -as the people who he really wanted to be destroyed, -are now in God's good graces, -and he's still foul over it...
To me? He's such a brilliant testamony that a person can (yes,) be a Christian and (yes,) still be dissatisfied with what God wants, -even if it's for them, or for people that have nothing to do with them... -yet, still not yeild their heart.
--It's the only book in the Bible that ends in a question, a negative one, and one that really makes you wonder, -is this guy going to ever really just get over himself?
--and you know he was miserable until he did.
C.S. Lewis on the other hand...
-though he had his concerns, if there was ever someone who understood that you can't 'live in both worlds,' (IE compromise,) at once, it was he...
Personally? I love that he, quietly, yet passionately, championed the simple fact:
...Yes, I am a Christian, I will not say that you are any less because you are not, but my views are my own, they are worthwhile, and you need to have to acknowledge your own views, take responsibility for them, --and walk in them (with no apology for them,) good or bad...
This guy did not believe in the phrase 'lukewarm.'
Wouldn't it be great to have intelligent, passionate, devout, and obedient Christians on the scene once more...
Do it APJ, do it! Break the egg! I know it's hard but just at first and only on the outside- inside it's nice, sunny and full of warm goodies -let it out :)
The first step to strength is to admit one's weakness....
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