He didn't have to

Lewis tells us about curious things in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He tells us that the process by which we gain our physical life is just as mysterious and counter intuitive as the process by which He gives us eternal life. And he's right, of course.

But the first part points to an interesting thing in our human lives. God grants us the most amazing pleasures. He ties our continuation as a species to the sexual act, which He has made extremely pleasurable. He ties our continued existence individually to eating delicious food. He has surrounded us with beautiful things to look at and wonderful sounds to listen to. He has embarrassed us with pleasure.

And of course we get our priorities mixed up. We decide that we want to separate sex from procreation and food from nourishment. We get so caught up in the pleasures that we forget that they're gifts. It's easy for us to get things backwards, isn't it?

But getting things back in the right order isn't so hard. It doesn't mean that He wants us to give up the pleasures He's giving us, it just means putting it in its proper place. Learning that He gives it as a gift, pointing to a greater gift.

God, help us to keep our pleasures in the right place.