Perelandra, Part One

So...I've been reading Lewis' Perelandra, and I've decided to do a series (ish) of blogs on interesting/relevant quotations from it...putting it in my own words, thoughts, and explaining why I think they are relevant etc. I'm not sure if this will be interesting to anyone, but it will be helpful and fun for me to do. Although, they will be scattered a bit....I won't be doing them all in a row or something. I'll be doing it from various quotations as I see fit. So...without further ado.

One joy was expected and another is given...you could refuse the real good; you could make the real fruit taste insipid by thinking of the other" (page 69).

This is what Tolkien called "the sin of the Elves". It is holding onto something too long, specifically, holding onto something good that is old and something you are used to, and resisting against change.

It is an idea of resisting something good that God might have for you because you are holding onto the old good that God had given you or blessed you with. A common term used in churches is 'taking out of the comfort zone'.

An interesting question....is the thing that is good still good if you hold onto it for so long that God can no longer use you? If you refuse to accept a new good from God because you still long and hold onto the old good, is it still a good? Or is it being selfish?


It is an odd one...to how strongly people hate change....specifically when one has been used to it for a long amount of time. (And I'll admit, I'm the same way.) Except when one clings so hard to the things that God has already given you, you miss out on the new blessings and goods that God wants to give you.

Well...that's all I have time for...the next few blogs will be a lot longer than this one. Most likely.

UTM

Trust

Well... God has been teaching me alot about trust lately. It's been a really good experience. I can't really describe how much I've grown since the beginning of the year. But it definitely has all been good if a bit hard at times. God has taught me that ultimately, all that matters is Him. Not what people say or think. I know that seems like an old lesson, but it's one I keep having to get reminded of. It's interesting...I'm sure that it's one most people have. I seem to keep having it though.

I've learned that trust is more than just saying "Oh, of course I trust You. You're God." It's actually having to throw yourself into His arms, and trust He'll catch you, no matter what. Personally, it feels more like looking off the side of a cliff and believing that He'll catch you...and then fling yourself off into oblivion, knowing He'll catch you.

It's an interesting thing, going through life, fully trusting in God to take care of you. It gives one a bit of....lightness, I guess, to life. You tend to not worry as much about little things (and big things)...You know you're taken care of.

Chocolate

Well...I've been reading over some old stories I wrote. This was one of my favorites. If I'm allowed to have a favorite, that is. ;)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I remember a voyage when I was very young, to a town that changed my life. It was when we stopped in the town where Vianne lived. My Pony fell in love with her, but I am jumping ahead of myself. I woke up with a stomach-ache and wanted a soda-water.

“Well, we will just have to fix that, won’t we?” Roux—that was his name but I called him my Pony—said with a chuckle, winking at my mum.

“But Roux,” Mum whispered in worry, “the Townspeople hate us…our kind.”

“Not all,” Roux reassured her. He took my hand and strode off, “Besides, all we want is a little soda-water.”

We wandered about the town, finally finding a small café. We strode in, my hand gripping his a bit tighter. There were a few people there, but not many. Not a busy time of day, I suppose now.

“Sorry, we’re closed,” the man sitting at the counter said with a glance of disgust in our direction.

I could feel my Pony’s anger rising by the way he stiffened. Young as I was, I knew it was because of the way we lived.

“She just wants a soda-water,” he told the man, his hand tightening around mine reassuringly.

The man leered at us and snarled, “I don’t serve animals.”

If I had not been there, I believe Roux would have killed that man. As it were, he gently said, “Right.” He turned and walked out, shooting a hard look at the man.

I puzzled over the man’s words before asking softly, “Are we animals? Is that why everyone hates us the way they do?”

Roux stopped and turned to me, his eyes glittering with emotion. I cannot recall a time where his eyes seemed so alive and so sad at the same instant. He knelt, looking me in the eyes, and grasped my shoulders. “No,” he said firmly, “We are not animals. People who say that are just afraid, afraid of those who live and talk in a different way. Do not let anyone look down on you because you live on the River.”

Roux straightened, taking my hand, and continued walking. Every now and then, he would stop to read a paper posted in various shops’ windows, his face growing darker by the minute. Suddenly, we saw Vianne—the woman who visited the boats earlier—standing in a doorway.

“Hello, I just made a fresh batch of monduon. Anybody interested?” she smiled welcomingly.

I could not help speaking, being so young and my stomach-ache worse since our interaction at the café. “My tummy hurts,” I said shyly, sorrowfully.

Vianne looked at me with gentleness, “I’ve got just the thing for that. Come in.”

Roux offered a dry smirk. “What about boycotting immorality, then?” he said with a soft challenge in his eyes.

“Come in,” Vianne repeated, shrugging.

Soon I was sitting on a stool, eating a leaf. “An old remedy,” Vianne had said, “from the cocoa tree.” Sure enough, it helped.

“Tastes strange,” I mumbled, still crunching on it.

Vianne chuckled, glancing at Roux, “Mm…maybe your daddy would like a taste.”

I looked up at her with a bit of surprise before informing her, “He’s not my daddy. He’s my pony.” Vianne raised an eyebrow to Roux who merely smiled.

Then her daughter, Anouk, offered me something far more tasty—chocolate. She took me up to her room to meet Pantoufle, her kangaroo. We came again a few times, Roux and I. He always found something to be doing for Vianne while I had fun playing with Anouk and her kangaroo.

I learned two very important things that day. People get afraid of the unknown and do not know how to deal with it, thus letting it govern how they act. The second thing is that there are always people who do not let fear govern them. Oh, and to not let others’ fears govern yourself. I suppose that is three things. You do not mind, do you? I thought you did not.

Lion's Tears

New year...wow. Well...to celebrate, I wrote a new poem. Kinda sums up what I've learned (and will be learning) this whole year.

God bless!

Lion’s Tears

The girl lay, broken
And bruised…
Tears running silently
Down her cheeks.

Pain, blackness, hurt…
Fear…

The girl curled up
As shadows came
To haunt her,
Terrorize her.

Pain, blackness, hurt…
Fear…

The hands grabbed her,
Laughing as she struggled,
Pain from each touch.

“God, help me,” she
Begged tearfully,
“Please…do something.”

Over and over they
Came.
Making her wonder
Why she was so
Special,
To be noticed by
Them.

“Isn’t once enough?”
She wondered,
Broken and bleeding,
“Why come again?
Why keep coming?
Can’t they go find
Someone else?”

Time after time…
How long?

Eternity?
The girl didn’t know.

Pain, blackness, hurt…
Fear…

They came for her
Again.
The shadows of her
Nightmares.

She curled up,
Waiting for the blows
To come,
For her heart to
Turn off,
And the
Numbness
To come.

It didn’t.
None of it came.

Her eyes flew open,
Half concealed in a
Dark corner,
She wondered what
Was going on.

She could see
Them
Just a few feet
Away,
Pacing angrily.

There was another
Shadow,
A new one…
She couldn’t make
Out its form.

Suddenly, she heard
A voice,
“Enough! You will
Not come
Near her again.”

The shadows moved
And she heard a
Low growl of warning.
They turned and left,
Glaring at her.

The girl watched as
Someone turned and
Walked towards her.
Her eyes widened in
Relief
As a lion came into
View.

She collapsed into
Sobs.
And the lion
Curled up
Around her.

The girl buried her
Head and hands into
His mane,
Falling into a restful
Sleep.

The lion stood guard
Over her,
Keeping the Shadows and
Nightmares away
As she healed.

And if you looked
Closely,
You would see
Tears running
Silently
Down his face…

Engaged

Need-love cries to God from our poverty; Gift-love longs to serve, or even to suffer for, God; Appreciative-love says: "We give thanks to thee for thy great glory." Need-love says of a woman "I cannot live without her"; Gift-love longs to give her happiness, comfort, protection--if possible, wealth; Appreciative love gazes and holds its breath and is silent, rejoices that such a wonder should exist even if not for him, will not be wholly dejected by losing her, would rather have it so than never to have seen her at all."

Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.

I'm engaged!

Happy Thanksgiving

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone.

Be blessed!

Quotes

Essential is truth; nonessential is liberty—in all things charity.

During this dark night of the soul, we may have a sense of dryness, aloneness, even lostness. Any overdependence on the emotional life is stripped away. The notion, often heard today, that such experiences should be avoided and that we always should live in peace and comfort, joy and celebration only betrays the fact that much contemporary experience is surface slush. The dark night is one of the ways God brings us into a hush, a stillness so that He may work an inner transformation upon the soul.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. (James 1)