I have found a companion in C.S.Lewis, his writings seem to touch the deepest parts of my soul. Below I have shared two quotes from two separate books he wrote on the subject of death. It wasn’t until I began thinking about this particular devotional that the striking differences of the two are that one describes and explains death in a matter of fact way almost like a definition or outline, cold. In the second book Lewis is more animated and shares emotions rather than the sterile and stale facts about death and its impact on self and others, more introspective. The change in tone and presentation of the two books is that when he wrote “A Grief Observed,” he was reeling from the death of his beloved wife, he shared his grief with his readers and the world. I have no doubt this was both painful and therapeutic, it is because of his writings and supportive people in my life I am able to share my grief. I had experienced loss in my life but when my mother passed away, it was as if time stopped. It was true but I didn’t want to believe it. Sometimes we have to not merely read about something for it to be true, some of us also need to experience it. My encounters with death prior to my mom had been in the matter of fact category much like Lewis’s first book “The Problem of Pain.” After the passing of my mom, I looked at death differently, you may find this difficult to believe or grasp but I’m grateful that I’m not over her death, grief has a beautiful way of helping one heal and process, I miss my mom every single day, that’s not to say I’m sad and distraught on a daily basis because I am not. For selfish reasons I miss her, she’s in a far better place and she’s at peace and I know she’s in God’s care. I try to celebrate her whenever possible, I speak her name often and laugh and remember silly special things she did. The thing is if I had never experienced her loss, I could not share these things with you. My hope and my prayer is that God will use this space to help someone else.
“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our prayer pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
“We were promised sufferings. They were part of the program. We were even told, ‘Blessed are they that mourn,’ and I accept it. I’ve got nothing that I hadn’t bargained for. Of course it is different when the thing happens to oneself, not to others, and in reality, not imagination.”
C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed
Colossians 2:2-6 “My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,”
Psalm 140:1-8 “Rescue me, Lord, from evildoers; protect me from the violent, who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day. They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips. Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from the violent, who devise ways to trip my feet. The arrogant have hidden a snare for me; they have spread out the cords of their net and have set traps for me along my path. I say to the Lord, “You are my God.” Hear, Lord, my cry for mercy. Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, you shield my head in the day of battle. Do not grant the wicked their desires, Lord; do not let their plans succeed.”
~Blessings and Peace~
HOPE SEEKER 