The advances in multimedia has put before us some books that might never have been read, but if you’ve ever read a book by C.S. Lewis you will understand why I almost always prefer to read his books.
I started out reading his science-fiction trilogy in 1977 and followed that with ‘The Dark Tower’ and ‘Till We Have Faces’, his autobiographical account of his conversion ‘Surprised by Joy’ and ‘The Four Loves’.
There was a considerable time gap before I’d begin reading Lewis again, though I’d spied ‘The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe’ in the libraries and the book collections of my brothers and sisters in Christ.
As we all know, the television series of the same have become sensational movies. I wonder if Lewis who penned the following would have approved:
“Every poet and musician and artist, but for Grace, is drawn away from the love of the thing he tells, to the love of the telling till, down in Deep Hell, they cannot be interested in God at all but only in what they say about Him”
— C.S. Lewis (The Great Divorce)
The Great Divorce has been on my reading list for much too long! I should have read it! It’s subject material that might help me complete my own book that has been ten plus years in the cauldron of my mind factory!
Mere Christianity, Problem of Pain, Miracles slowed my reading pace down to a grinding halt, as I found they required considerable re-reading. I even read M.C. backwards! It wasn’t until I read, ‘Reflection on the Psalms’, that I began enjoying Lewis’ books again. M.C’s pages opened up to me, and I read and read and am still pondering what I read. (I’d been misinformed about Lewis by certain reformed-dogmatic-scriptural types who disagreed with nearly everything he’d written, which had made me suspicious and a little frightened of him.)
Studying has certainly changed my view of Lewis’ thinking and even given me a deep respect for his thinking and writing. As I slowly approach the sixty mark, I’m hoping that eventually I’ll write a book that brings glory to God. Suffice to say, I’d much rather not have to write anything, but I am being stretched by God on the rack of truth and either I will run from the task or face-up to my weaknesses and cast myself upon this ‘Grace’ of which Lewis refers and let the one who does as He pleases, be.
Perhaps a little music to celebrate my current blues:
Lately, I’ve been pondering a few creative ideas and this website exploded some powerful reasons to get busy: (if you can bring yourself to put your electronic mouse pointer on the pastel without having a good look, then I guess you won’t be ready for what lies beyond it.)
