Monday, February 21, 2011

The real problem comes the moment you wake up

This reading picks up exactly where we left off last Friday.

wake-up-with-wild-animals That is why the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.

We can only do it for moments at first. But from those moments the new sort of life will be spreading through our system: because now we are letting Him work at the right part of us. It is the difference between paint, which is merely laid on the surface, and a dye or stain which soaks right through. He never talked vague, idealistic gas. When He said, ‘Be perfect,’ He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder—in fact, it is impossible. 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.

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1952; Harper Collins: 2001) 198-199.

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2 comments:

  1. Hello, Ken! Just stumbled on your blog while looking for the Lewis quote about digging up bulbs . . . I'm so taken with his gift of saying things with such clarity, and at the same time enticing us to look more deeply . . . amazing gift!

    Thanks for being here - I'll be checking on now all the time!

    The place where I am in my journey at the present is being aware of the Presence during all my waking hours - it's an amazing process!

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  2. Hi ken, just found this when looking for the quote .... Thanks for posting ... gonna follow your blog

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