Tag: C.S. Lewis

something to shout about

Today my world both shrunk (in the global village sense) and exploded (in the opportunity sense) and I am practically bursting with excitement.

In the span of a few hours, I somehow connected some intercontinental dots and I’m now finding myself in very beautiful company. I’ve written before about the beauty of friendships drawing out things we never knew we were hiding. In the past, this crazy exchange of joyful energy has happened in a very close-knit group of friends (which is, I’m sure, the kind of crowd to which C.S. Lewis is referring).

Today, something very strange happened. Today, I felt that same joy leap inside me in response to a circle of friends connected through this funny thing called the internet in different countries and states altogether.

Here I am, in Honduras, trying to stay hip and creative and on some undefined artistic edge while working with two drastically different populations in a country more known for its airport landing strip, drug problems, and coffee than artistic movements. I fail pretty regular with the hip/creative/artistic edge routine, but I don’t mind because whatever comes out in the process is inspired by the people I’m rubbing shoulders with everyday.

So, back to that strange leap of joy earlier today. Thanks to two social networking sites, I found myself tweeting, direct messaging and emailing two fabulous organizations.

LOVE IN STEREO is all about “uniting people behind causes and social good using art, artists and fans.” When I found their site awhile back, the words “cause,” “social good,” and “art” immediately captured my attention. I’ve followed them ever since… well, in a twitter/email subscription sense. Today, through some twitter exchanges, I got beyond excited about the possibility of being more than just an admirer in their efforts.

ELEMENTAL PROJECT is using their “website and digital magazines as platforms to showcase positive stories, and promote cause based businesses, charities, and individuals who are actively helping others.” Whoa – super intense! I stumbled upon them through an acquaintance from college and I am so impressed by their commitment to make this explosion in social media and technology matter for the people who need it most.

I wonder what C.S. Lewis would say about internet-induced joyful episodes. Well, in any case, there is some beautiful potential staring back from this calendar day and I intend to claim it! I now have new friends in Michigan and Tennessee and if our inspirational conversations can’t happen around a local brew, they just might percolate over these internet waves.

And that is alright by me.

Posted on by Caroline 0

Friday night was a strong statement

“Every contact you make with everyone you meet will help them or hinder them on their journey to heaven.” C.S. Lewis

If C.S. Lewis is as trustworthy as I believe him to be (and of course he is), then this statement is worth the many times I have re-read it. It’s got the “spit out, if lukewarm” severity hidden in between the words that describe our relationships in two ways. There is no in-between. Only two options: helping or hurting someone on their journey to heaven.

That’s a pretty strong statement, Clive Staples.

Every single contact? Like, the gas station attendant and the beggar and the person who just passed by my window selling avocados, potatoes, and yuca? Every contact with everyone I meet has some kind of eternal echo?

This past Friday, about 40 ALP students/staff stayed after school for the SLEEPOUT event. After the last buses pulled out of the campus and headed out on their regular routes to drop off students, Micah Project met us at the soccer field to begin our night of fun, fellowship, worship, and service.

Here are just a few pictures. This is a taste of a longer reflection, but I did want to say that Lewis’s words confirm my thoughts that on Friday we definitely helped each other (across lines of economic status, reputation, background, age) on our journeys to heaven. May God be praised for the way His children came together as one body!

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If CS Lewis can make strong statements then I can, too.

Friday night was a strong statement where

love FLEW like cRaZY!

Posted on by Caroline 0

bursting with joy

Cover of "The Four Loves"
Cover of The Four Loves

I’m sitting here, under my tree, with books stacked high to my right and my heart full to overflowing with thanksgiving. I just spent way too much time looking at old blog posts trying to find some musings from the book, “The Four Loves” by C.S. Lewis, but I came up empty-handed.

I’ll have to rely on my memory to relate the bliss I’m feeling and how I think Lewis explains it best.

It is only fitting, I might add, that I’m comfortable under my tree, where roots are stretching out underneath, reminding me where I find life.

Many of you are probably well aware of Lewis’s famous book on the four different types of love, but I want to just skim the surface of what has me flying so high tonight: friendship. Lewis suggests (apologies for my crude summary) that friendship draws out God-designed parts of us that we never knew we were hiding. In community, we are able to watch God reveal Himself in us because of the way we are made to live in community together.

Isn’t that magnificent?

Today is a repeat of so many other times in my life where I realize there is joy bubbling up in my soul that is set free when I place myself in community. It’s like a pen full of words that finds paper or a box full of seeds that finds ground.

Community is a place God has specifically designed to reflect Him and point to His glory. I love how C.S. Lewis says that God ordains our friendships. There are certain people ordained for certain times in our lives for a very certain purpose – to draw out ways in which we never knew we were capable of giving God glory.

How beautiful!

I can’t tell you all the ways this makes sense for today, but I can tell you that this day (beginning, middle, and end) made me ready to burst with the joy and inspiration of community. God’s design is so very good!

Here is one of the reasons for my joy… one of my students Alejandra! She has a wonderful way of drawing out something strange and silly and spectacular… and I always walk away blessed!

I hope you are intentionally putting yourself in the company of others who are pursuing Christ. You will be so blessed by the new ways you find to give God glory for His design!

As always,
.let LOVE FLY like cRaZY.

Posted on by Caroline 3

pursuing lower pleasures

Here’s something I wrote in May when my friend Heather was visiting, but it certainly applies to tonight. I just got home from a MARVELOUS night of capture the flag with my favorite seniors, then dinner, then dinner #2, and then various antics following. I think my joy almost burst a couple times I was so full of it!

I laughed and laughed and laughed and I praise God for every surprising snort and crazy convulsion. I love laughter. I will have to write more about that later. For now, enjoy this REPOST from May.

——————–
After a crazy day, an afternoon filled with charades and catch phrase and laughter, and a typically cheesy serenade for the 11th grade girls… Heather and I went for coffee and finally caught up a bit. I chose the Latte Au-Lait, which means I am now WIDE awake and she’s zonked out (getting the sleep she needs so we can leave at 5:45 am to lead worship tomorrow at staff devotions).

I just want to write something quick tonight… maybe it will turn into a poem, but right now it’s just thoughts about pleasure. As I think about the students and this culture and (maybe) popular culture in general, I decide that our greatest sin is pursuing lower pleasures.
I know C.S. Lewis probably illustrated this idea more deeply than my brain can think it right now, but still it seemed a mini-revelation tonight.

God promises in Psalm 16:11 that in His presence there is FULLNESS of JOY and at His right hand there are PLEASURES forevermore. Wow! What a promise!

God promises the kind of joy that bursts out from inside our souls and overflows to uncontrollable laughter… the kind of joy that you can’t keep from showing on your face… the kind of joy you can’t wait to share with everyone you meet… the kind of joy that makes your heart feel like fire and makes you want to dance and shout and play in the rain…

NOT ONLY that, but also pleasures forevermore. God offers us pleasure that never ends – He created us with the desire for pleasures forevermore and He is delighted when we pursue the highest kind. He planted that little seed inside us, in the soil of our humanity, that tries to break the surface and soar toward the sun… all the ways our humanity longs to have pleasure can be traced back to the way we were created in His image to experience pleasures forevermore.

The moment I decide to pursue a less pleasurable pleasure than what I was created for, I am choosing sin. I know, it sounds confusing. Usually we associate pleasure with sin, but right now I am saying that we sin when we pursue less pleasure or lower pleasure. Because I know God created me and placed in me a desire to have infinite joy and pleasure, I know that anything less than a pursuit of THAT means two things:1. I am not experiencing the most pleasure possible (can only be found in and through God)2. I am trying to make lower pleasures fulfill my God-given desires for the BEST pleasure (which, of course is a fail from the start).

God created us, knows us, and delights when we are absolutely bursting with joy.

Posted on by Caroline 0