the devil is real

Lewis tells us about how our ancient enemy, Satan, twists our pleasures today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

And today is Halloween. It's the day that we remember the ghosts and goblins that go bump in the night. But it also reminds us that there is a very real enemy out there, one who hates us and wants to see us suffer and fail. He is the one that likes to attack when we're weakest. Likes to make us doubt the things we believe when we're stronger. Likes to toy with us and cause us to worry.

In case you're wondering, the picture above is of the Devil in The History Channel's The Bible. He does resemble our president a little. I'm not sure if that's intentional.

But let's remember what Halloween means. It reminds us of those evil spirits, yes. But the name of the Holiday comes from All Hallow's Eve... because tomorrow, Nov 1, is All Hallow's Day, the day that we remember all of the saints who have gone before us, both known and unknown. It's the day we celebrate what it means to walk with Jesus.

When we DO walk with Jesus, we will anger our enemy. We will face trouble in the world. The world and the ancient foe will hate us - just like it hated Him before us.

But take heart. He has overcome the world.

God, thank You for a time to remember our enemy ... and the victory You already give us over his schemes.

where need and passion meet

Lewis tells us about the original state of man, where his greatest joy was doing God's will, today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

And of course, this is where we want to be today, too. Buechner expresses it well in the quote above. God calls us to find the place where our greatest passions and the world's greatest needs come together. Where we can help people a great deal by doing the thing we love. There are few things in life that bring us greater joy than work which we love doing, that impacts other people in a positive way.

Have you found that place in your life? He gives us our desires and wishes for a reason. He wants us to find the way that we can use the passions He's put in our hearts to benefit our fellow people. If you haven't found it yet... ask Him to help you find it. Believe me, He wants you to find that place.

He created you for it.

God, thank You for giving us passions and helping us to find how they plug in to Your will in helping the world be a better place.

God always answers our prayers

Lewis tells us about God saying no to our prayers today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

And that brings up the fact that God always answers our prayers. It may not feel like it sometimes, especially when the answer is no. Those are times that require great faith - to trust Him to know what's best for us even when it's different from what we think.

But one thing I realize is that when God says no to our prayer, in a sense it really is US saying no to God in our prayer. See, one of the things we realize after we learn to pray is that we are learning to agree with God in our prayer. We are learning what He wants for us and learning to say "yes" to it, like Mary did. But when we decide we want something different from what He wants for us, then we say "no" to Him, and we ask for things in our prayer that He is then forced to say "no" to us back.

We come to Him in prayer because He first loves us and draws us to Him. And when we genuinely seek His will for us, we find ourselves saying "yes" to what He is calling us to, which causes Him to have to say "no" to our prayers far less often.

God, teach us to live in agreement with Your will.

praying past tense

Lewis tells us about one of the effects of God being outside of space and time today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He says that we can pray for things in the past. And that sounds odd, I know. But I definitely believe it's true, and I do it pretty often.

Sometimes it will be afternoon, and I'll suddenly remember that a friend asked me to pray for something they did that morning. I'll still pray, since God isn't limited by time and can still answer my prayer.

I have felt like I should pray for Jesus on the cross.

I think that both God and, therefore, prayer, exist outside not only of time, but of our capacity to understand how they work. His ways are above our ways. We know we can trust Him, and we should love Him. But we are, and probably will always be, incapable of understanding Him.

That's a comfort to me. If I could understand Him, it might be more difficult for me to trust Him. Sound paradoxical? Well, I trust a man who is far stronger than I am to pull me up out of a pit. And I trust God, who is far beyond all I can imagine or understand, to always take care of me when I need Him.

God, thanks for being outside of our ability to grasp.

in and out of it

Lewis tells us about God answering prayer outside of time today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He points out that God doesn't have to answer our prayers "all at the same time" because He doesn't inhabit time like we do. Not, by the way, that God couldn't do that. God is far more powerful than the doubter who told Lewis he didn't think God could do that thinks He is. But, as Lewis explains, He doesn't have to.

I was thinking about this idea of time today. And one part of me wonders if time is entirely in our heads... just the way we perceive eternity: one moment after another. Just something our brains construct.

But then you run into the problem of how things change. I was on Padre Island today, and there are buildings there that weren't there 100 years ago. If time is all in my mind, then how to things build and change and grow? So time must be a reality, or none of that would be possible.

So time is real, not just the way we perceive things. And God is outside of that time. He is also, by the way, inside of time. He is here with us in the present moment. He lived 33 years in the timeline with us as a human. He is both in and out of time. Which is pretty cool, when you think about it. The author of the story has entered the story He made. He comes and visits His "characters" and shows us what He's like.

It kind of blows your mind.

Thanks, God, for transcending our ability to understand You... but being there for us to love.

God, the Original Time Traveler

Lewis tells us about God being outside of time (outatime) and how that affects free will today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

And it brings to mind the beginning of Tolkien's amazing, convoluted little book called The Silmarillion. In the beginning of that book, God is a great composer of beautiful music. He has a multitude of singers who are all contributing to the great song. One of them, a little full of himself, tries to disrupt the song and bring attention to himself. But every time he does so, the great composer demonstrates his amazing skill by working the selfish singer's music into the greater symphony.

The way this relates is that the singers are all exercising their own will. They're singing their songs the way they desire to. And the Great Composer sees and hears all of them at once, doing their own free will thing, and also works all of it into a beautiful song.

So it is with God. He allows all of us to make our own choices, good or bad. And He works all of those decisions together for good. No matter how hard someone might try to disrupt His song, He is so completely above all of our skill and ability that He easily works all of it for good. He makes all things well, and all things well, and all manner of things well.

He is outside of time and space, weaving all of our experiences which we perceive one at a time, in sequential order, into a great song that in REALITY (the way God experiences it) is happening all at once in the great Now.

Hard for the human mind to grasp. But it allows us to see how the answer to many of our questions is not A or B. It's something above A and B which often encompasses both. The answer, as my beloved friend Amy would say, is yes and no.

God, thank You for Your ultimate reality, which we are privileged to participate in.

creating utopia

Lewis talks about the foolishness of trying to build utopia today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He says that if we ever had hopes of building heaven on earth, instead of realizing that we're sojourners, then we are now disillusioned. He means because of World War II, and the horrors thereof.

We DO need to realize that this world is not our final destination. But we also need to work to make it a great place to live. We will never realize a perfect society in this lifetime... humans tend to mess it up. But we CAN create great communities full of happy neighbors who love one another.

That we can do.

God, please help us make this world a better place as we look forward to the next one.

meeting God

Lewis tells us about the fear of death today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He talks about how all of us will die one day. There's no way around it. He puts it in the context of war. He says that war reminds us of death, because we usually try to forget about it.

But remembering death is very important. The reason why, however, is I think unfortunate. See, I think that most people need to remember death because it forces them to realize that they will face God. And that reckoning makes them decide to live their lives better.

Would that it were unnecessary? If people would just seek God without the fear or reminder of death. If people would want to know Him without suffering and pain.

Well, you can. Lewis even says so. He says that God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, and shouts in our pain. So if we listen... like the person in the picture above... we can hear His still small voice without His needing to shout at us in our pain. Or at least listen when He speaks in our conscience. The more we try to listen, the less need He has to shout.

But we should also know that pain is probably going to come, and death almost certainly will. I say almost, because while Lewis says that death is 100% certain for everyone... he's not quite right. There were several in the Bible who never died... including Enoch and Elijah. Who's to say He won't do it again?

However, pain and death will probably come to you. And we should, of course, be prepared. We don't know when it will come. It's important to keep ourselves ready. To be seeking His coming in our lives, so when He does come to take us home, we're ready to welcome Him.

Even so, come Lord Jesus.

running out of time?

Lewis talks about running out of time for learning today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

And he's right as far as this life goes. We do find ourselves eventually realizing that we won't have enough years in our lives to study everything. To some, that's a relief. Not everyone enjoys studying.

For other, like Lewis, it is frustrating. To want to learn another language, but realizing that you've gotten too old to have time to master it.

And Lewis might be right about eternity, too. He doesn't explicitly SAY that we won't learn things in Heaven. But it is implied in his frustration.

I do think we'll learn in heaven. I've created some of my ideas of what heaven will be like in my book The Tale of Amon. The characters in that book learn to play every instrument, and learn to paint like Picasso, and learn all of the languages. Because they're immortal, and they have time to practice everything. I kind of hope that's what heaven is like, because I find a human lifetime too short to learn everything I want to know.

God, thank You for giving us the love of learning.

serious about learning

Lewis talks about the danger of excitement today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

And when you read what he says, what he's really talking about is not what we refer to as excitement today, but more what we call distraction. He says that it is difficult during war time to set aside the fact that war is going on and get serious about learning. That the war preoccupies you and distracts you from your studies. But that this is true even when there isn't a war, because other things distract us in those times.

And that's a good lesson to learn. But when we talk about our modern form of excitement, I think that we can apply that to learning as well, but in a positive way. If you've never heard of a maven, I have the pleasure of teaching you what a maven is. There are two definitions... one just means "someone who knows alot about some particular subject." But another definition, the one I like, means "a person who loves to learn new things and then share them with everyone they know."

I'm a maven, so I take particular delight in teaching you what a maven is. I also get excited about learning things. Even in the midst of my dark times, when life seems empty and hard... I look forward to learning. There is a particular excitement in finding out new things about the world that God has made. There is so much fine detail in creation... so much packed into every little aspect. Proverbs says it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to seek them out. God has hidden little treasures throughout the world, and it is our great privilege to find them.

The Jesuits teach that learning is itself an intrinsic good. Not necessarily learning for the purpose of applying it to some kind of work, though that's helpful too. But just learning itself is good for us. May we take it to heart that God delights in our seeking out His treasures of knowledge.

God, thanks for being so amazingly creative that we can spend our entire lives learning about the world You made and never run out of things to learn.

present at creation

Lewis tells us that since God's act of creation is outside of time and space, we are present to it because it's in eternity. He tells us this today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

But there is another reason why we are present at His act of creation. Robert Barron tells us that God never stops creating. It is part of His nature... an intrinsic part of His character... to create. That's why His mercies are new every morning. That's why every little baby is a wondrous work of art. That's why evening after evening, the sunset will take your breath away. Because He never stops creating.

Is it any wonder, then, that our lives are full of wonderful mysteries? That we continue, even today, to find new species of animals and plants on this planet we inhabit? God never tires of making new things. And He never tires of redeeming the old ones, either.

Which is a good thing, because I usually need it.

Thank You, God, for Your eternal acts of creation.

heaven and hell so few inches apart

Today Lewis says one of my favorite Lewis quotes in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He is talking about how redemption and damnation are both retroactive. So the man in heaven will say "Earth was heaven, too" and the man in hell will say "Earth was hell!" and they will both be right. That brings to mind Sartre's assertion that "hell is other people" and applies very appropriately.

And the title of this blog is stolen from the pages of my favorite songwriter - the inimitable Rich Mullins. Rich and Lewis are two of my biggest sources for wisdom - and having them come together for tonight's blog is pretty cool.

The take home lesson, I think, is that our hell and our heaven, as Rich says, are so few inches apart that we travel that distance multiple times in a day. Heck, I've traveled them multiple times in an hour. And I've seen that retroactive grace, and that retroactive damnation, work their magic in that tiny space of time, too. It's freaky when it happens, because suddenly your culpability seems all out of whack. How can I be guilty of the sin that caused me to be in a sinful funk before the sin I committed? But there's no escaping that I AM in fact to blame.

The good news is, He is redeeming me before I even ask. He is meeting me in the midst of my sin, and knows that I need that redemption long before I even face the merest hint of the temptation that will lead me into the darkness.

With these our hells and our heavens so few inches apart we must be awfully small, and not as strong as we think we are. And that's good news, because if I were bigger and stronger, I would be tempted to resist that grace He gives me, that I need so desperately.

Thank You, God, for Your amazing retroactive grace.

what can we do?

Lewis talks about all the things we can't do to change the world today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He talks about how trying to change everything will just end in disappointment. So instead we should focus on relieving the pain that we find before us in our lives.

I agree that we should address the suffering we find as we go through our lives. When we can visit the sick or imprisoned... feed the hungry.... clothe the naked... we are, Jesus says, doing these things for Him.

But I think that when we pray, we're doing far more. And I think there are several reasons for this. One, God can do far more than we can. When we pray, we're getting serious firepower involved in the situation. We're calling in the big guns. And God answers our prayers, sometimes in ways that even surprise us.

Two, it is SO EASY to become proud of ourselves when we help people. When someone thanks us, it's hard NOT to swell with pride at how great we are to help those people. But when we pray, we are far enough removed from the situation that we almost never get that sense of pride. We stay humble as we ask for God to make the difference in their lives.

So let's pray without ceasing. Let's make every thought a prayer, by lifting it to Him. If it's worthy, He'll accept it. If it's not, He'll redeem it.

God, thanks for the privilege of prayer.

this long road

Lewis tells us about the road we tread today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He tells us basically, "don't get comfortable." He says that God withholds safety and comfort from us, but gives us joy and happiness and even ecstasy along the way. Lewis points out that this world is not our final destination, and that we're bound for a better place.

He's right, to a degree. His perspective, though, does leave out some other truths. We ARE called to make this world our home, for now. We are called to create a home for our family. To make the earth a better place for those generations after us who are going to inherit it. Even though the planet is fallen, it is not forsaken. We are called to Eden-ize it once more. To cooperate with God as He redeems His creation.

It's true that this is not our final destination. But it's also true that eternal life begins now. And God is working to bring healing and grace not just to us humans, but to all of His creation. We have the great privilege and responsibility of participating in that healing.

So yes, God calls us to keep walking our road. But He also calls us to pick up trash along the way, plant some flowers, and help make the road a better place for those who follow after us.

God, thanks for giving us such a privilege. Help us find joy in the journey and in the road.

woe to him

Lewis talks about the complex good today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He talks about the people who cooperate with God's will, and those who try to oppose it. And he explains that even those who act cruelly to others and try to thwart God's plan are used by God for good... because God uses EVERYTHING for good for those who love Him.

So we can choose to cooperate with His will (which is to do good in the world and help others), or we can choose to act contrary to His will. But if we choose to disobey, Lewis says we choose the role of Satan in this great drama... and we better be prepared to share his fate.

Jesus said this in other words. He said that things which cause people to stumble are bound to come. But woe to those through whom they come. It would be better for those people to be thrown into the ocean with a huge rock tied to them than to cause one of "these little ones" to stumble.

So yes. You could choose to fight Him. But it won't go so well for you.

Or you could ask Him to help you cooperate with His will. And then everything will work out for your good.

It doesn't seem like a tough decision. But you know how often people choose the former and resist the latter. May we ask for wisdom.

God, thanks for teaching us about the complex good. Please help us cooperate with Your will.

keeping it in mind

Lewis talks about our tendency to avoid God today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He says that God gets our attention with the threat of a serious illness or the threat of war, and suddenly we are serious about our religion and our faith. But as soon as the threat is passed, we are like puppies after a bath, running to the nearest filth to get comfortable again.

And that brings us to an important part of our faith. Death is not an easy or fun subject. But it's unhealthy to avoid thinking about it. It is the inevitable end that each of us must face. And if we take our faith seriously, we will keep the fact of our passing away in mind as we go about our daily business. This will help us in several ways.

For one, it gives us perspective. Problems don't seem so huge when you realize that you'll be passing away and meeting God one day. We see that our lives are swiftly passing, and that we need to do what counts. Love people. Love God. Help others. Do some good while we have time to do it.

And, very importantly, we need to prepare for the inevitable end. We need to get our hearts right with God. We need to spend time with Him and grow in our trust, so that the fact of our eventual death isn't so scary. We need to learn to trust.

God, thank You for giving us a sobering fact to face, so that we might make our lives count.

i'm not like other people... pain hurts me

Lewis talks about pain today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He really expresses my feelings about pain. I'm really not a fan of pain. I don't like it when I feel it, and I don't like it when other people feel it. I'd be happy if it just went away.

We have it on good authority that suffering is really good for us. It purifies us. But fortunately there are other ways for us to lose our attachment to sin. The best way, I'm told, is to spend time with Jesus. The more time we spend with Him, the more we are made like Him without having to experience pain.

This is one of the reasons I take a prayer walk each day. One reason why I go to mass most days. The more time I spend with Him, the more I become like Him without having to go through that unpleasant suffering.

God, thanks for making us more like You, and for giving us a way to do it without so much pain.

the privilege of martyrdom

Lewis talks about martyrdom today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

And it's hard to believe that people are being martyred today in 2016, isn't it? It's also difficult to comprehend that there have been more martyrs in the last 100 years than in the 1900 years that preceded it. Martyrdom seems like something that happened in ancient, Roman times, with lions and coliseums and gladiators. But more people have died for Jesus in recent times than in Rome.

Dying for our faith is of course a powerful and amazing thing. But, like suffering, it's not something we should go looking for. The line between martyrdom and suicide is found in my favorite Bible verse: "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

Suicide is when we give up on our lives, give in to despair, and try to escape from our pain. And my heart goes out to those whose lives are so horrible that they choose this end.

Martyrdom is the opposite. It's when we love our lives, and find great joy in the fantastic blessings He's given us. But we see dying as gain - we know that as great as this life is, being with Him in the next life is even better. So much better, it's not even a comparison.

So when suffering comes our way, and if martyrdom ever presents itself as a possibility, we have the assurance that we will find His sufficient grace to see us through it... and into eternal life with Him in His amazing Kingdom.

Until then we pray... even so, come quickly, Lord.

my new book

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happy reading!

today's four letter word

Lewis talks about obedience today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

We Americans don't like obedience. Revolution and independence are our themes. The idea of doing what we're told rankles against our national pride.

But God makes it clear throughout the Bible that we are going to be slaves to something. There's no such thing as being completely independent. We're either going to be slaves to our appetites and desires and sinful nature... or we're going to be servants of God.

The cool thing is, when you start being His servant, He quickly promotes you. He begins calling you His child. And eventually, His friend. We start off doing what He tells us just because He tells us to. And Lewis says that in itself is a good. But after we've walked with Him for awhile, we start to see WHY He tells us to do things that way. We see the wisdom behind His commands. We start to agree with Him.

God, thank You for helping us find Your wisdom.

powerful tenderness

Lewis asks, in a phrase that could bring tears to your eyes, how he can say with "sufficient tenderness" what he feels he must say about the reason we suffer, today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

Lewis's tenderness reflects God's own. As much as it pains Lewis to say that kind, loving people suffer, so much more does it pain the heart of God to allow this suffering into their lives. But the tenderness of God is a mighty fire... a powerful flame that makes us into the children He is looking for, to live in His kingdom.

It takes great trust for us to look into His eyes and know that when we walk with Him, we won't be exempt from suffering. That walking closer to Him sometimes means greater suffering, not less.

But when we trust Him, and look deep into His gaze, we realize that the pain He allows us to endure diminishes to a nothingness in comparison to the joy that comes in the morning.

God, please help us look deeply.

unclenched

Today Lewis talks about how we don’t have room for God in our lives, in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He says that God has to take things away from us before we will realize that He is what we need. And you and I know that it’s usually painful when He takes things from us.

There is another way. We can ask. If, as Lewis says, my hands are too full for me to accept the gift that God is giving me, it isn’t necessary that He make me drop things (or everything) in order to accept His gift. Instead, I can cooperate with Him. I can say, “God, I want what You want for me. Please help me to put the things down that are keeping me from accepting Your gift.” And He will help us to do it in a way that doesn’t hurt us.

Now, there are times I think that some pain is necessary. The Bible tells us that whoever suffers pain in the body is through with sin. And I think there is some deep truth to that. Physical suffering helps us to put sin behind us.

But it’s not all about suffering. God wants us to have joy. He wants us to love the lives He’s given us. His yoke is easy. His burden is light. He has come that we might have abundant life.

I think the healthy and wise balance between suffering on one hand and abundant life on the other is learning to pray in earnest, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth (in my life) as it is in Heaven.” Asking for His will to happen in your life helps your suffering to be redemptive, and  your joy and happiness to be a form of rejoicing in Him.

God, thank You for teaching us that balance.

savoring it

Lewis talks about people shoveling down their food today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

We're all in a big rush these days, aren't we? Like the old man in Shawshank Redemption points out, the world has gone and gotten itself in a big darn hurry. We want instant gratification in everything. And if we DO have to wait, we pull out our phones and seek some intermittent entertainment while we are forced to wait.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being busy. The old saying that idle hands are the devil's workshop (a loose interpretation of Proverbs 16:27) has basis in fact. If we don't have much to do, it's easy to get in trouble. And we can certainly be VERY busy doing good.

But if we get into too big of a rush, we become like the glutton that Lewis talks about, shoveling down our delicacies like we don't know what it is we're eating. Only not just with food... with everything. With our relationships. With our time. With our money. With, ultimately, our lives.

Thoreau said "Most men live lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in them." Take some time today. Live deliberately.

Sing your song.

God, thank You for the reminder that we only have the one life You've given us... help us to live it to the fullest. To savor it.

when we should rebel

Lewis talks about rebellion today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

And Lewis talks about how we need to kill the rebellious spirit inside of us. He's right, of course. Because he's talking about rebelling against God. But as the image above shows, sometimes obedience to God means rebellion against someone else. Or SOMETHING else.

As we know from the verse that says "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers", our struggle is not really against other people. In fact, our marching orders are pretty clear regarding other people: love them. If they're our friends, we should love them. If they're our enemies, we should love them. God keeps it simple for people like me.

But we DO wrestle against the powers of the world. The "spirit of the age", as it's called. It's trying to destroy families. It's trying to kill little children. It's trying to make everything seem like it doesn't matter anyway. This spirit is what our rebellion is against.

When we really obey God, and put to death our rebellion against Him, we find ourselves aligning with Him against the spirit of the age. And we also know from scripture that when we do that, we should expect trouble. "Don't be surprised when the world hates you," Jesus said. "In the world you will have trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world."

Take heart. You will have trouble. But you're in Good Company.

God, thanks for letting us be part of the true rebellion.

a little less self, a little more action please

Lewis talks about dying to our selves today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

Dying to our selves means many things. But the main thing, I think, is it means learning to be less selfish. Learning to put God and other people before our own desires. And that CAN be hard.

But I've found something that helps. When I start thinking of all of the things that God has done for me... it is humbling. I realize how incredibly generous He has been to me throughout my lifetime. And it makes me think, "How can I be selfish when You've given me so much?" It helps me to be just a little less selfish when I think of all He's done.

God, thanks for helping us learn to be less selfish.

the value of suffering

Lewis explores the reasons behind suffering today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He says that humankind is responsible for 4/5 of the suffering in the world. In my humble opinion, he's grossly underestimating us. But perhaps he is meaning it differently than I am. Maybe he doesn't count the effects that we produce on the world around us, causing starvation and shortages that put people and animals in positions where they then inflict cruelty on other creatures.

Perhaps he's giving diseases like cancer and the plague their due, and not seeing them as resulting from human activity (which, arguably, they are not... depending on your view of how original sin and the fall of man affected all of creation.) And Lewis died in 1963, ten years before Roe v Wade brought about a great genocide of innocents that definitely changes the 4/5 number dramatically.

But it doesn't change the "why?" question. Why does God allow suffering in the world? Why doesn't He just make things so that we (His creatures) don't have to suffer? Why didn't He make us incapable of suffering? Wouldn't that be better?

Well, the question of suffering is not an easy one. But we do have some answers. For one thing, we know that suffering is good for us. It's not pleasant. It's not fun or enjoyable. But it makes us better people. When we suffer, we have a choice to make - we can allow the pain to make us better, or make us bitter. As long as we don't grow bitter, then pain has a wonderful way of making us better people.

If you have met people who have suffered, and then compare them to people you know who have had it easy all of their lives, you can see that there is a distinct difference. Those who have suffered are usually deeper, more patient, kinder, and more caring than those who have had it easy. These are not hard and fast rules, but it plays out more often than it doesn't. The Bible even says that whoever suffers in the body is through with sin. I'm not sure how that works, exactly, but it definitely sounds like suffering has a role to play in our becoming more like Jesus.

Does that mean we should go looking to suffer? Wear hair shirts and whip ourselves? I don't think it does. It's been my observation in this life that pain finds pretty much all of us. And if you decide to LOVE someone... well, you'll definitely find some pain along with that love. When the pain comes, we can lift it up and identify it with Jesus's suffering... and allow it to be redemptive in our lives. If you don't know how to do that... just ask. He'll help you. He's good at that.

Thank You, God, for using suffering in our lives to help us become better people.

the main reason God made us

Lewis says something startling today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He says that the main reason God made us is NOT for us to love Him. Lewis says that the main reason is so that God can love US. And that really sets you back on your heels when you think about it. It means that He is the lover... He is the pursuer... He is seeking US out.

And it's true. When you stop and realize how things work, we don't love Him first. We only love Him because He loved us first. In fact, even the love that we give Him is just some of the love that He already gave us. It's like a little boy who wants to buy a present for his mom, but the only money he has to buy it with is the money that she gives him. Of course she loves the gift, because she loves her son. But it's not like she's profited from the exchange.

God, the infinite font of goodness and love, created us so that He could love us. That's an amazing thing to realize.

God, thank You for Your love, which is so abundant that it blows our minds.

questions God can't answer

Lewis talks about nonsense today in A Year With C.S. Lewis.

He says that nonsense is still nonsense even if you put "God can" in front of it. And to a certain extent, he's right. Though God DID manage to do many impossible things...like be born and die even though He's eternal.

But Lewis would say that those are examples of God being an iconoclast again. Breaking our presuppositions. Showing us that His ways are above ours, and so are His thoughts.

But Lewis's gentle laughter in the dark is the take home lesson tonight. I think Julian of Norwich summed up that quiet laughter when she said that, in the end (of time...of the day...if our trial...) He will make all things well, and all things well, and all manner of things well.

We can't conceive of the amazing, perfect, beautiful ending that He has prepared for us. And...He's excited to show it to us. Isn't that cool?

God...thank You for making everything perfect.

the surprising God

Lewis tells us about God breaking our expectations today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

One of the worst things you can say about a movie is that it's predictable. We don't want to be able to guess what every line is going to be, or what the plot is going to do. True creativity surprises us. That's actually what humor IS. It's a surprise. It's something we don't expect, and the delight we experience at that moment of surprise produces laughter.

And so it is with God. He is not just creative... He is creativity itself. So He continually delights us. He surprises us. He amuses us. Robert Barron begins one of his best books with the statement that Christianity is, in its essence, a great joke. It's the delightful surprise that we get from the monumentally unexpected: God being born as a baby. God dying. God rising from the dead, and bringing us the ability to do the same. It's the greatest joke ever told. Not because it's not true.

But because it is.

Ask Him to surprise you. Even when you're expecting it... you won't expect what He does. He's the best at doing what we would never guess in a million years. He's been doing it for longer than that.

Thank You, God, for surprising us.

when He teaches you... about you

Lewis tells us about how God teaches us about ourselves today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

And that reflects a lesson that God taught ME today at church. Funny how He does that. But what happened was this: He taught me a particularly useful new habit to practice in order to grow in my maturity. And I liked it so much, and found it so helpful, that I asked Him, "Why didn't you teach me this before?"

And He gently replied, "You struggled with the last lesson... you weren't ready for this one until now."

And boy was He right. The lesson just before this one was one that it took me most of my adult life to learn. And now, finally, He has allowed me to move on to the next lesson.

Such a good example of how He knows us so much better than we know ourselves. We think we're ready for what's next... but usually we're trying to run ahead of Him. When we walk with Him without getting impatient, we see that His curriculum is always perfectly attuned to what we're able to handle.

Thank You, God, for being patient with your challenged student.

when we want it too much

Lewis tells us about misdirected desire today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He says that when we say "Let's talk!" we can't think of anything to say. And when we think, "I HAVE to get some SLEEP!" that's a good prescription for insomnia.

And haven't you experienced this in your life? When even YOU realize that you want the thing (whatever it is) too much? That it's being withheld from you precisely BECAUSE you want it so badly?

It is something most of us have experienced. But for most of us, it leaves us mystified. Why is THE THING that we want more than anything kept from us?

But there is the answer, staring at us right out of the middle of the question, right? The "thing we want more than anything." We have made "that thing" too important in our lives. I'm not going to use the word "idol", because I think that word gets overused and abused... and most people wouldn't say they're worshiping the thing they want or making it their god.

But.

They ARE, by their own admission, wanting it more than they want God. Or balance, peace, or health in their lives as well, for that matter. They have gotten everything upside down. They have made THAT THING more important than anything else. And until they learn to put it back in its proper place, doesn't it make sense to keep it out of their hands? Otherwise their souls look like this:

That's the scene where Bilbo, for a split second, WANTS the ring too much. Then he gets control of himself, and becomes his good, affable self again.

When we're balanced, healthy, and loving God first and others next, all good things are added to us. But when we put one of those "THINGS" above all else... well, it gets ugly fast.

Thank You, God, for helping us keep things in perspective.