The Inspiration of C.S. Lewis: Learning in War-Time

People one generation younger than mine remark that C.S. Lewis was writing to their generation. Lewis wrote this essay during my father's generation, yet I am soaking up Learning in War-Time some 80 years later as if it was written last week.  There's something timeless about this Lewis address to students because I am reading this in an age of increased turmoil and totalitarianism in the world and in America.

Lewis, delivering his remarks to college students in 1939, first speaks to the reality that war, because it is a finite object, cannot absorb the entire attention of the human soul. Thus, no matter how badly things are going around us, we were not wired to be entirely absorbed in them.  Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has put eternity into man's hearts, something far beyond the travails of the present world.

He moves on from there to emphasize that our work of learning (whether we are in school or college or engaged in a career or ministry) becomes a spiritual act if offered in humility to God.  He encourages them not to let their emotions and nerves make them think that their situation, mired in the suffering of WWII, is more abnormal than it is. Those same words need to be heard in my heart today.  Sure, there is much to grieve and much to be alarmed about, but Lewis encourages his students with three defensive mental exercises with which to combat the war (or the equivalents of war we experience today).  These enemies are:

1. Enemy #1 - Excitement - Don't wait for distraction to end to get to work.  He remarks that the people who work hard, including under unfavorable conditions, will achieve much. Sure, evil seems to be thriving and there's plenty of distractions but if we wait for the distractions to end, they won't, and we will have achieved nothing. Instead, we could have been about doing good in this world.
2. Enemy #2 - Frustration - Lewis encourages his listeners to instead of saying "No time for that" or "Too late now." or "Not for me" to put the future in God's hands.  He reminds us that working moment to moment "as to the Lord" since the present is the only time in which duty can be done or grace received.  Live for today.
3. Enemy #3 - Fear - Although the threat of death and pain was incredibly real for Lewis's listeners, he reminds them it's not a question of life or death for us but only one death or another.  Being aware of our mortality is useful and was considered a blessing by great Christians of the past.  Lewis reminds us that in this world we're on a pilgrimage, not trying to build of a utopian society on earth.

The idea of a life of learning that Lewis encourages for his war-time students is worthy of our attention today.  It is up to us subdue our enemies and to flourish in these times when many are held prisoners by enemies (excitement, frustration, fear).  Lewis's narration can be read here: https://bradleyggreen.com/attachments/Lewis.Learning%20in%20War-Time.pdf
 

   

The Christmas Gift Of My Helping Family

 

The family 2021 Christmas Day plans were all perfectly in place.  The rides to pick up Mother and Dad were all set, we had invited Corinne's hairdresser and son to join us, Matt had made the trek home from Philadelphia, and I was thinly slicing potatoes with a mandolin two hours before all our guests were set to arrive.  Then, in a blink of an eye my hand slipped off the handle, sliced the end of my finger off, and our Christmas plans were instantly jeopardized.  In the hours that followed, I who was to be putting out for everyone else, received the Christmas gift of my family helping me and working together to care for everyone. 

Just a few of the many blessings I received included:

1. Matthew finding a nearby Urgent Care facility, driving me there and being my caretaker through the painful medical procedure, that fortunately didn't require stitches. 
2. Corinne contacting everyone and pushing the schedule for dinner back 2 hours.
3. Bunny and Tim picking up Dad, which I was set to do, safety bringing him to our house and returning him to the Episcopal Church Home.
4. Bob and April picking up Mother, which Bunny and Tim were set to do, bringing her to our house and returning her to River Edge Manor.
5. Corinne, Bunny and April taking over all the food and other preparations and doing the kitchen cleanup afterwards.

It was a wonderful experience for me to see my family jumping in to help when the unexpected happened to me and to see them carrying on so graciously.  In all those events, I could see in action the words of the Christmas song O Little Town of Bethlehem that say:

How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given,

So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven.

No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.

I felt that I received some of the blessings of God's heaven through my family members on Christmas Day 2021.