Finding the Necessary Respite and Inspiration

January is over and none too soon, as far as I’m concerned! Days with minus twenty degree temperatures are just too cold, and I can only hope that February will be kinder to us.

Along with the ongoing presence of these excessively cold days, we have been bombarded with information that feeds a listening audience fear and uncertainty about the future. Elections, tariffs, unity, and the value of our Canadian dollar continue to be front and centre on television, in social media, and in general conversation with neighbours that sometimes threatens friendships. Unfortunately, when these topics come front and centre in my world, they can cause sleepless nights and needless worry and distract me from the peace and assurance that God provides. In an effort to combat such unwanted and destructive invasiveness, I have chosen to  be more discerning in what I hear, read or discuss. I’ve chosen to focus my thoughts on things that have a positive influence on my life and the life of someone else, such as an elderly widow who simply needed her humidifier filled or a struggling friend who needed a cup of tea and a listening ear, or simply being ready to share how God is the One in control, not man, whenever opportunity arises.

In my own defense, I am neither ignorant nor naïve. Much more could be said on the issues mentioned above, but considering this blog length and your time to read it, I’ve chosen to leave those issues for you to mull over, since the following is what I really want to share!

Have you ever had or do you still have a mentor, someone who has challenged you to think deeper, act better, and feel inspired to make positive changes in your life? I’m sure a lot of us have. One person in particular comes to my mind. She is now in heaven but left an indelible mark on my life. We laughed together, cried together, prayed together, studied God’s Word together, and definitely shopped together. She helped me learn the value and influence the Bible could have on my life, developing it into my go-to book for wisdom, encouragement, direction, and all too often, conviction. She taught me more than I can put into words, and the influence she had on me…well, although she’s been gone for over fourteen years, her picture still sits on my dresser!  Thank you, Lorna…and have a Happy Birthday in heaven!

There have been others who have had an influence on me through their writings. Men such as Oswald Chambers, Charles Spurgeon, Matthew Henry, and, of course, C. S. Lewis, each representing the tip of the literary iceberg.

Clive Staple Lewis is considered the most important Christian writer of the 20th century. He’s not new to those in the literary Christian world, and perhaps to the world at large. For years I’d been aware of titles that come under his name: Mere Christianity, Miracles, The Screwtape Letters, The Problem of Pain, and The Chronicles of Narnia, to name just a few, but I had never honed into any of them until 2017 when I bought A Year with C. S. Lewis. And I was hooked! Nine of his titles sit on my shelf, all in various stages of reading through them!

A Year with C. S. Lewis—as the title might suggest—is a daily devotional made up of quotes from eight of his literary marvels. One source describes the book this way: “Amidst the bustle of our daily experience, A Year with C. S. Lewis provides the necessary respite and inspiration to meet the many challenges we face in our lives.” (Challenges we face in our lives? Perhaps like those mentioned in my opening comments?)

I read from A Year with C. S. Lewis most mornings. More often than not it takes three or four read-throughs before I grasp what Lewis is saying. And I read with pencil and dictionary in hand. (Yes, a dictionary! His handling of the English language is astounding.) Needless to say, his knowledge, giftedness, and challenges that he puts to pen, inspire me to read and reread his writings.

January 14, a quote from Mere Christianity in A Year with C. S. Lewis:

When you come to knowing God, the initiative lies on His side. If He does not show Himself, nothing you can do will enable you to find Him. In fact, He shows much more of Himself to some people than to others—not because He has favourites, but because it is impossible for Him to show Himself to a man whose whole mind and character are in the wrong condition. Just as sunlight, though it has no favourites, cannot be reflected in a dusty mirror as clearly as in a clean one… The instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a man’s self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred—like the Moon seen through a dirty telescope. That is why horrible nations have horrible religions: they have been looking at God through a dirty lens.

A second book that I’ve owned for several years, focuses on C. S. Lewis’s Narnia tales: Finding God in the Land of Narnia by Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware. The book takes the reader “though the wardrobe for a while to explore the land of Narnia” with the further thought that “you just might be surprised whom you find there.” I bought the book after purchasing the Narnia DVD with every intention of reading it. I just didn’t get to it! But it now sits on my coffee table and I have trouble putting it down and getting on with my daily day! Having said that, I must confess that I also own The Chronicles of Narnia, a seven volume box set that I had not read until this past summer! As it turns out, reading Narnia prepared me for reading Finding God.

Please allow me one more moment to share a quote from Finding God in the Land of Narnia (pp. 5 -6, emphasizes added):

In our forming world, God spoke—and it was so. No masterpiece can take shape without an artist. No story can be told without an author. Nothing exists but that which came from the brush and pen of God. He composed the symphony others merely echo and painted the portrait others reflect. He engineered the first architectural structures, called mountains and trees; programmed the first computer, called the brain; and invented the first miracle drug, called the immune system. They all started in His imagination, an imagination that has enabled our own. We compose, paint, invent, write, and plan only because He did it first. Or rather, because He spoke it first. God’s word, like Aslan’s song, invited us into the miracle of Creation—a creation that began with Him, is sustained by Him, and will culminate in Him…And that is the reason our world, and our lives, can be transformed from pitch-darkness to glorious, life-giving light!

“For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things,
to whom be glory forever. Amen.”
Romans 11:36