I love lake days.
I wish we had both a "city" house here in town and a "country" house down by the lake.
Well...if I'm making wishes it would be more than just a house. It would be an entire ranch right there on the lake {so we're talking acres, not just a plot}. It would have a farmhouse style, two story house like this, with a wrap around porch and shutters.
And we'd have our own boat launch...and a boat to go with it. Maybe I'd finally learn how to water ski.
A girl can dream right?
But today I am content to go to the lake and breathe the fresh air
and watch my baby laugh
and my doggie play
and the sun dance on the water.
Those ducks better watch out!
I took Clive Staples with me to read. You know Clive {CS Lewis}, I know you do. I was first introduced to Clive as a 6th grader. We were required to read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe for English...and we were required to read it in increments...no reading ahead allowed. If you answered a question and it was apparent you had read ahead you were scolded. I'm a fast reader. I can't read at someone else's pace. So I read ahead, got in trouble, stopped reading so the class could catch up with me...and then never finished the book {still made A's though}.
In high school I heard adults talking about CS Lewis and what a great writer he was. So I gave him another try. I guess I was too young and too unfocused to appreciate dear Clive. I read the preface and probably the first 3 pages of Mere Christianity and never gave Clive a try again.
Until now. Mostly because of Edie at Life in Grace and all of the wonderful things she has written about Clive and the quotes she has shared. And I have been blown away. I don't always agree with Clive...but his arguments are well thought out and well written. And in a time when we are bombarded with marketing campaigns and headlines {most of which are not news worthy} I heartily appreciate his words. They are thought provoking and I encourage you to give Clive a try...even if you've read him before and thought it was dry reading...give him another chance. You might agree with him, you might not...but he challenges the individual to think for oneself...which is, unfortunately, not something our society often encourages.
As I sat at the lake, and tried to help my cute-but-fussy four month old sleep, this quote grabbed my attention. It was exactly what I needed to hear in that moment:
We must not think Pride is something God forbids because He is offended at it, or that Humility is something He demands as due to His own dignity - as if God Himself was proud. He is not in the least worried about His dignity. The point is, He wants you to know Him: wants to give you Himself. And He and you are two things of such a kind that if you really get into any kind of touch with Him you will, in fact, be humble - delightedly humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once go tired of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which has made you restless and unhappy all your life. He is trying to make you humble in order to make this moment possible: trying to take off a lot of silly, ugly, fancy-dress in which we have all got ourselves up and are strutting about like the little idiots we are. I wish I had got a bit further with humility myself: if I had, I could probably tell you more about the relief, the comfort, of taking the fancy-dress off - getting rid of the false self, with all its "Look at me" and "Aren't I a good boy?" and all its posing and posturing. To get even near it, even for a moment, is like a drink of cold water to a man in a desert. -- CS Lewis, Mere Christianity
He sure doesn't mince words! I love Clive.
Happy Friday Y'all! :)
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