C.S. Lewis

Something More

| Marie Griffith

“Something perfectly new in the history of the Universe had happened. Christ had defeated death. The door which had always been locked had for the very first time been forced open.”  C.S. Lewis, Day 47 in Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter

Easter Sunday has come and gone. The season of Lent is over but my journey of reflection continues with the daily readings from the devotional. I’m in the “New Life” section of the book now.

Frederick Buechner writes on Day 52:  “In the end, his will, not ours, is done. Love is the victor. Death is not the end. The end is life. His life and our lives through him, in him. Existence has greater depths of beauty, mystery, and benediction than the wildest visionary has ever dared to dream. Christ our Lord has risen.”

God has something more for us. But it’s not out there somewhere. It’s not tomorrow or in a few years or decades from now. It’s not when you finally have the family you’re praying for. It’s not only when your marriage gets better or when the cancer is gone or when the kids behave. It’s not just when you’re free from the addiction. It’s not only when you’ve reached your goal or when you’re living your dream.

It’s here and now.

It’s in the everyday mess of your life. The laughter and tears and everything in between. It’s in the middle of your battle. When you’re fighting for faith and trying to find joy. It’s in the hard work of reaching your goals. It’s the crying out to God when you don’t understand. It’s when you’ve conquered and when you’ve failed. When you go from feeling all is right in your world to feeling it’s hopeless. It’s when you fall and get back up. And it’s when you have no strength left to get back up.

He’s the God of your every day. Right there with you in the midst of your routine and obligations. Because “what God began, God will not abandon.” Madeleine L’Engle, Day 56

Something more is here and now.

“Those who live victoriously, though they wait in great hope and expectation for the final triumph of God’s grace, live even more in present experience of what that grace in Christ can do in their lives here and now. ‘Today shalt thou be with me in paradise’ is no idle promise for an indefinite future but a simple statement of what Christ can and will do here and now if we put our trust in him and open our lives to his presence and his power.”      Howard Hageman, Day 50

 

 

Perspective

| Marie Griffith

I spotted this miniature scene on one of my downtown walks recently. I was surprised to find it where it was, but I was even more surprised I hadn’t noticed it before.

The tiny door sits at the bottom of a very large tree standing on the narrow grassy area between the sidewalk and the busy street. Once the door caught my eye, I stopped to take a photo. I wanted to stay and look more carefully…..to see what other tiny things I could find…… but I felt I was intruding.

And it wasn’t until I studied the photo closely that I noticed the little pumpkin or gourd with a little green leaf on top next to the door. See it? IMG_5204

I almost missed this odd little sight. Almost walked right past it like I had before.

What else do I miss? Do I see what I should see?

“What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.”      

C.S. Lewis (The Magician’s Nephew)

Quest

Image | | Marie Griffith
fullsizerender-6
Photo by Ty Griffith

We all know what it’s like to look for something. Sometimes the thing we’re looking for is lost. We had it….but lost it……so we search for it. Like keys or a receipt or your wallet.

Sometimes the thing we’re looking for isn’t a thing at all. It’s a feeling. Or answers. Or a memory or truth.

I’ve heard of people trying to find themselves. I think they mean they’re trying to figure out who they are and where they fit into this big world and maybe they’re trying to make sense of it all.

We’ve all searched. We all have a sense of longing……..for something we can’t quite name.

So we travel the world and see all there is to see.

We seek adventure and hike the highest peaks and explore deep waters and jump out of airplanes.

We get the PhD from the best university.

We build a career that lets us make plenty of money so we can drive the best cars and dine at the finest restaurants and have an extra house at the beach.

We buy the trendiest outfits, dye our hair, get implants and tattoos, have our stomachs stapled and noses reshaped.

We marry that guy or that girl and when it doesn’t work out we move on to the next one that’s supposed to make us happy.

When those things don’t work we self-medicate to numb the ache.

Different thrill. New place. Bigger house. More stuff.

But the search continues because none of those things, not one of them, eases the ache inside.

The longing remains.

C.S. Lewis said, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord….  Jeremiah 29:11-14a  (NIV)

Caper