Friday, July 24, 2015

C.S. Lewis and Craziness




   I didn't really have the best day. Let's be honest: I haven't really been having an amazing summer. It might look swell on Facebook and Instagram (I'm kind of old-school, and I tend to only post the "good" stuff-I save the whining for the blog! ;) ) but it has been far too busy for my tastes, and I feel like I haven't gotten to do any "savoring"-only flying from one activity to the next with plenty of hiccups and missteps sprinkled in. Definitely FWP, I know! So, I spent a considerable portion of my afternoon partying-I mean the pity kind. And to distract my self from my "too much fun" woes, I did what any self-respecting person with an iPhone does: I got on Facebook.

    How in the world did I think *that* would make me feel better?! The first two stories in my newsfeed? These horrific murders in Oklahoma-two brothers killed their parents and siblings, and the breaking story of a shooting spree in a Louisiana theater. And this all comes amidst the recent allegations that Planned Parenthood is in the business of selling baby body parts. (Sorry, but that was NOT surprising, just sickening and sad.) WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD?!!!

    Sadly, all those messes did put my trifling "problems" in perspective, but I was still feeling pretty down. Kind of like when you complain that you have been suffering with a cold and someone says, "Well, at least you don't have cancer!" Because *that* just makes you feel alllll better, amiright? Except, not really, because you still have a cold, which makes you whiny, and now you are feeling sorry for all the people in the world who have real problems, and being all depressed that you can't do anything about it.

  So, I turned off Facebook, after posting this verse, (because I 100% believe that the Word is appropriate at all times and for all reasons). And tried to carry on with real life. That thing I keep complaining about, you know?

  And my kids were clamoring to read "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe", because like any intelligent thinkers, they are powerless to resist C.S. Lewis' brilliant storytelling. And they begged for another chapter, so I read two. And I began to think about how awful Narnia was. We had just finished the chapter where they find Mr. Tumnus' tossed home. (Sorry, I guess I should have posted a spoiler alert for the two people in the world who haven't read The Chronicles of Narnia.) Things are really grim, and because "this ain't my first rodeo" so to speak, I know that things will only continue to get worse. They will find much greater evil than a ransacked house. And it will shake them up.

    And it is scary-to face the reality that you are a child and you cannot possibly know how to get yourself out of  a situation that you did not create, and are seemingly helpless to control. Where things keep going wrong. A world where it is "always winter but never Christmas".

   And doesn't that just feel like the world we live in? Always dreary, often frightening, sinister and cruel-where those in power are bent on our destruction, and it seems that in addition to being at cross purposes with all our ideals and morals, our very lives are at stake. But see, you and I, being the savvy readers that we are, know this: it is all just stage setting. It is all just a build-up to the final, glorious climax. It seemingly takes forever, you realize that especially when you are reading it out loud to small children, but these details are painted vividly for a reason: it will make the triumph of good over evil all that much more delicious.

   Because we all know the good guy wins! Don't get me wrong: I am not saying that God promotes murdering, thievery, and wanton disregard for His law just to prove a point, or make the finale even more grand, but we do not need to lose hope.

"One of you routs a thousand, because the Lord your God fights for you, just as He promised. So be very careful to love the Lord your God." Joshua 23:10-11 (NIV)
   We aren't in this all alone-we need to not lose hope. We have been promised that in the end WE WILL WIN. The crux of the whole thing is this: we just need to be very careful to love the Lord. The impossible is possible with Him-grandiose endings are kind of His thing. Just as it took insane trust for the Pevensie children to believe that Aslan could deliver not just them, but all of Narnia, it takes the doesn't-make-sense-in-the-eyes-of-the-world faith to believe that one can rout a thousand. And I don't know about you, but I would have never guessed that Narnia would be saved in the manner it was.

   "All shall be done, but it may be harder than you think."  C.S. Lewis, I am quite certain, did not write those words only for children. He knew, as any believer does, that God's ways are not our ways.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my wayhigher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9

   Today, all seems wrong with the world. It will take an insane amount of trust to believe, that in this completely crazy world, that Someone can come along and make everything right. And that He may be willing to let me have a part in that. But it is so true, and the ending will be so much better than anything I can imagine or hope. I am quite certain it will be harder than I think, but there is amazing comfort in knowing that it shall all be done.

                                                                             Above all, contemplating Him,
                                                                                                               Clare

P.S. I guess this is kind of theme in my life lately, since my last post was this one. Sorry-sometimes I get kind of fixated...or maybe I just need a lot of reminders. ;)

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