Yes, his explanation of not bothering about if you 'love' and acting as if you did, I think really captures the Christian idea of love! Love is primarily an action, not a feeling. It is a commitment to seeking another's good despite their worthiness or our own feelings about them. And the thing is, Jesus calls us to 'love one another' as he has loved us, which means there are going to be a whole bunch of people we have to love that we naturally might not have feelings of love for!
You can tell from my reflections that his description of those people that are full of goodness but not thinking of themselves atall captured me too. What a worthy goal to aspire to: to grow in holiness to the point of forgetting self, our attention fully consumed by God. I think that's something we can only reach in Eternity, but we ought to be striving for that now!
Wow, am I behind on posting!! Work got hairy for several weeks, and then I came down with a cold that wiped me out for several days more. Time for catch up...
Chapter 8 was a chapter that struck some level of fear through my heart. I've always experienced a large amount of anxiety around being "good enough" for anything -- school, sports, music, work, etc. Some of the most tense and uncomfortable moments of my life involve awaiting results, whether from a competition, a performance, an evaluation, a test, etc. The topic of pride and how powerful of a sin it is gives me a similar anxiety. I found myself asking throughout the chapter "Am I prideful?" and then frantically wondering how to change, followed up by feeling stress and anxiety about never knowing if it's "enough" to get to heaven. This is definitely an area to continue thinking through and working on!
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I loved Chapter 9's ideas about charity. We've had discussions at home that we can love people by wishing the best for them while simultaneously keeping them far away from ourselves. This chapter felt reaffirming in these ideas. I also liked the Lewis defined charity beyond just the giving of money. I think "charity" in general tends to have financial connotations, but there is much more you can give to those in need than just money! I find myself constantly looking for ways to be charitable with my time, skills, knowledge, etc.
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Well, I just got to Chapter 11 pg. 142-143 and my first paragraph has been righteously slam-dunked by C.S. Lewis... LOL Reading those pages after writing that first paragraph felt like an immediate response from God bumping me back into line. The timing of it almost made me laugh out loud to my empty living room! I am still going to leave my original thoughts on Chapter 8 in this comment because it is all so uncanny.
Apologies for my tardiness. I just now finished reading book three 😅
Loved your thoughts on the reading. And the picture of that beautiful church!
After reading chapter eight, it took me a couple days to process. I think you recapped it perfectly 👌🏻
I loved Lewis' concise advise about charity: "do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbour; act as if you did."
Neighbor can translate to certain family members too, amiright 😉
Enjoyed his formula in Chapter 11:
Faith & Reason > Emotion & Imagination
How he explained faith "in the first sense" was inspiring and easy to understand (though if you were to ask me to explain it, I'd probably have a hard time and would prefer to just read what he wrote 😂)
Now, his picture of faith in the "second sense" was seriously breathtaking and inspiring. Lewis wrote "[those people] are filled full with what we should call goodness ... but they do not call it goodness. They do not call it anything. They are not thinking of it. They are too busy looking at the source from which it comes."
That is what I want my life to look like. Shining for Him and not giving one thought of how I might look to others ✨️
That quote from charity is almost a "proper" way of saying "fake it 'til you make it!" and I think it couldn't ring more true! If you "pretend" or behave a certain way long enough, eventually it becomes habitual and a natural part of your everyday life. Love is absolutely a choice and something that takes practice, especially when it may be easier to behave in a less than loving way.
Something Austen told me recently that has stuck in my mind happened while we were in the car. We were turning left in front of oncoming traffic, and he waited in a moment where I probably would've stepped on the gas and gone for it. I don't remember if we had a dialogue in that moment, but I do remember him saying something like "There's no reason to scare them or cause them stress." I find myself thinking about it all the time while I'm driving now! I never had considered that quickly cutting between cars in an intersection might scare, stress, or worry the other drivers -- I was only concerned that I got to continue onwards toward my destination. I think loving your neighbor can have applications as simple as this!
Yes, his explanation of not bothering about if you 'love' and acting as if you did, I think really captures the Christian idea of love! Love is primarily an action, not a feeling. It is a commitment to seeking another's good despite their worthiness or our own feelings about them. And the thing is, Jesus calls us to 'love one another' as he has loved us, which means there are going to be a whole bunch of people we have to love that we naturally might not have feelings of love for!
You can tell from my reflections that his description of those people that are full of goodness but not thinking of themselves atall captured me too. What a worthy goal to aspire to: to grow in holiness to the point of forgetting self, our attention fully consumed by God. I think that's something we can only reach in Eternity, but we ought to be striving for that now!
Appreciate your thoughts, Shalisa!
Wow, am I behind on posting!! Work got hairy for several weeks, and then I came down with a cold that wiped me out for several days more. Time for catch up...
Chapter 8 was a chapter that struck some level of fear through my heart. I've always experienced a large amount of anxiety around being "good enough" for anything -- school, sports, music, work, etc. Some of the most tense and uncomfortable moments of my life involve awaiting results, whether from a competition, a performance, an evaluation, a test, etc. The topic of pride and how powerful of a sin it is gives me a similar anxiety. I found myself asking throughout the chapter "Am I prideful?" and then frantically wondering how to change, followed up by feeling stress and anxiety about never knowing if it's "enough" to get to heaven. This is definitely an area to continue thinking through and working on!
--------------------
I loved Chapter 9's ideas about charity. We've had discussions at home that we can love people by wishing the best for them while simultaneously keeping them far away from ourselves. This chapter felt reaffirming in these ideas. I also liked the Lewis defined charity beyond just the giving of money. I think "charity" in general tends to have financial connotations, but there is much more you can give to those in need than just money! I find myself constantly looking for ways to be charitable with my time, skills, knowledge, etc.
--------------------
Well, I just got to Chapter 11 pg. 142-143 and my first paragraph has been righteously slam-dunked by C.S. Lewis... LOL Reading those pages after writing that first paragraph felt like an immediate response from God bumping me back into line. The timing of it almost made me laugh out loud to my empty living room! I am still going to leave my original thoughts on Chapter 8 in this comment because it is all so uncanny.
Apologies for my tardiness. I just now finished reading book three 😅
Loved your thoughts on the reading. And the picture of that beautiful church!
After reading chapter eight, it took me a couple days to process. I think you recapped it perfectly 👌🏻
I loved Lewis' concise advise about charity: "do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbour; act as if you did."
Neighbor can translate to certain family members too, amiright 😉
Enjoyed his formula in Chapter 11:
Faith & Reason > Emotion & Imagination
How he explained faith "in the first sense" was inspiring and easy to understand (though if you were to ask me to explain it, I'd probably have a hard time and would prefer to just read what he wrote 😂)
Now, his picture of faith in the "second sense" was seriously breathtaking and inspiring. Lewis wrote "[those people] are filled full with what we should call goodness ... but they do not call it goodness. They do not call it anything. They are not thinking of it. They are too busy looking at the source from which it comes."
That is what I want my life to look like. Shining for Him and not giving one thought of how I might look to others ✨️
That quote from charity is almost a "proper" way of saying "fake it 'til you make it!" and I think it couldn't ring more true! If you "pretend" or behave a certain way long enough, eventually it becomes habitual and a natural part of your everyday life. Love is absolutely a choice and something that takes practice, especially when it may be easier to behave in a less than loving way.
Something Austen told me recently that has stuck in my mind happened while we were in the car. We were turning left in front of oncoming traffic, and he waited in a moment where I probably would've stepped on the gas and gone for it. I don't remember if we had a dialogue in that moment, but I do remember him saying something like "There's no reason to scare them or cause them stress." I find myself thinking about it all the time while I'm driving now! I never had considered that quickly cutting between cars in an intersection might scare, stress, or worry the other drivers -- I was only concerned that I got to continue onwards toward my destination. I think loving your neighbor can have applications as simple as this!