Two Kinds of People in the End

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’  All that are in Hell, choose it.  Without that self-choice there could be no Hell.  No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it.  Those who seek find.  To those who knock it is opened.”

by C.S. Lewis, in the Great Divorce

“Shade of a Darkened Room”

Is the midnight closing round you?
Are the shadows dark and long?
Ask Him to come close beside you,
And He’ll give you a new, sweet song.
He’ll give it and sing it with you;
And when weakness lets it down,
He’ll take up the broken cadence,
And blend it with His own.

And many a rapturous minstrel
Among those sons of light,
Will say of His sweetest music
‘I learned it in the night.’
And many a rolling anthem,
That fills the Father’s home,
Sobbed out its first rehearsal,
In the shade of a darkened room.”

Poem from Streams in the Desert:

Great Divorce and “Dog in a Manger”

The following quote is from C.S. Lewis’ book The Great Divorce:

“The demand of the loveless and the self-imprisoned that they should be allowed to blackmail the universe: that till they consent to be happy (on their own terms) no one else shall taste joy: that theirs should be the final power; that Hell should be able to veto Heaven…It must be one way or the other.  Either the day must come when joy prevails and all the makers of misery are not longer able to infect it: or else for ever and ever the makers of misery can destroy in others the happiness they reject for themselves.  I know it has a grand sound to say ye’ll accept no salvation which leaves even one creature in the dark outside.  But watch that sophistry or ye’ll make a Dog in a Manger the tyrant of the universe.”

 

“Dog in a Manger” is taken from Aesop’s fable of the proverbial dog who slept in a manger not because he wanted to eat the hay there but to prevent the other animals from doing so.  Now refers to someone who is a “spoilsport” or spiteful and mean spirited. 

The Tyranny of ‘Sensitivity’

The following is from C.S. Lewis book Reflections on the Psalms which relates to our situation in a westernized university in Kazakhstan.

“Did we pretend to be ‘hurt’ in our sensitive and tender feelings (fine natures like ours are so vulnerable) when envy, ungratified vanity, or thwarted self-will was our real problem? Such tactics often succeed.  The other parties give in.  They give in not because they don’t know what is really wrong with us, but because they have long known it only too well, and that sleeping dog can be roused, that skeleton brought out of its cupboard, only at the cost of imperiling their whole relationship with us.  It needs surgery which they know we will never face.  And so we win; by cheating.  But the unfairness is very deeply felt.  Indeed what is commonly called ‘sensitiveness’ is the most powerful engine of domestic tyranny, sometimes a lifelong tyranny.  How we should deal with it in others I am not sure; but we should be merciless to its first appearances in ourselves.”

 

I Have to Believe This, I just HAVE to!!!

My Cup Runneth Over

 

There is always something over,
When we trust our gracious Lord;
Every cup He fills o’erfloweth,
His great rivers all are broad.
Nothing narrow, nothing stinted,
Ever issues from His store;
To His own He gives full measure,
Running over, evermore.

There is always something over,
When we, from the Father’s hand,
Take our portion with thanksgiving,
Praising for the path He planned.
Satisfaction, full and deepening,
Fills the soul, and lights the eye,
When the heart has trusted Jesus

All its need to satisfy.

There is always something over,
When we tell of all His love;
Unplumbed depths still lie beneath us,
Unscaled heights rise far above:
Human lips can never utter
All His wondrous tenderness,
We can only praise and wonder,
And His name forever bless.

Margaret E. Barber

 

“Thy fettered feet doth free…”

I was happy to pick these pretty flowering weeds along my path today.  However, I think I may be allergic to one of them so I won’t do that again. (besides, it might even be illegal to pick weeds in Almaty!) But I will return to this new walking path that seems to be dog-free for the most part.  I have a ready stone to toss if any dog ventures close to me but at 6:00 a.m. in the morning they are not too likely to be mean-spirited.  I was bitten by a dog who was “protecting” its owner when I was walking too quickly back in Ukraine. (Once bitten, twice shy applies here in Kazakhstan)  Anyway, it is nice to have the fresh morning air to walk in and greet other walkers who feel the same freedom.

Thou waitest for deliverance!
O soul, thou waitest long!
Believe that now deliverance
Doth wait for thee in song!

Sigh not until deliverance
Thy fettered feet doth free:
With songs of glad deliverance
God now doth compass thee.”

“A Patient Heart Can Wait”

Streams in the Desert was just what I needed this morning to salve an impatient heart…

“Some glorious morn–but when? Ah, who shall say?
The steepest mountain will become a plain,
And the parched land be satisfied with rain.
The gates of brass all broken; iron bars,
Transfigured, form a ladder to the stars.
Rough places plain, and crooked ways all straight,
For him who with a patient heart can wait.
These things shall be on God’s appointed day:
It may not be tomorrow–yet it may.”

“His Palaces Beautiful in the West”

We’ve been witnessing some beautiful sunsets lately in the western sky, the days are getting longer. (But NOTHING compares to our wide open view of sunsets in NW Minnesota. I miss being at home with the planting season just beginning)  While “punching the clock” here in Almaty, Kazakhstan, this upcoming Monday I’ll start teaching a reading and writing class for Summer Session One, every day from 7:00 to 8:15 p.m.  Hopefully it won’t be too hot by the end of the day.  I’m thankful for the view of the majestic mountains we have from our south balcony and the sunsets from our northern balcony view.  Much to do even at the end of this spring semester, maybe that’s why I like the following quote from Streams in the Desert.

“Some things cannot be done in a day.  God does not make a sunset glory in a moment, but for days may be massing the mist out of which He builds His palaces beautiful in the west.”

“Wit’s End Corner”

 Are you standing at “Wit’s End Corner,

“Christian, with troubled brow?

Are you thinking of what is before you,

And all you are bearing now?

Does all the world seem against you,

And you in the battle alone?

Remember–at “Wit’s End Corner”

Is just where God’s power is shown.

 

Are you standing at “Wit’s End Corner,”

Blinded with wearying pain,

Feeling you cannot endure it,

You cannot bear the strain,

Bruised through the constant suffering,

Dizzy, and dazed, and numb?

Remember–at “Wit’s End Corner”

Is where Jesus loves to come.

 

Are you standing at “Wit’s End Corner”?

Your work before you spread,

All lying begun, unfinished,

And pressing on heart and head,

Longing for strength to do it,

Stretching out trembling hands?

Remember–at. “Wit’s End Corner”

The Burden-bearer stands.

 

Are you standing at “Wit’s End Corner”?

Then you’re just in the very spot

To learn the wondrous resources

Of Him who faileth not:

No doubt to a brighter pathway

Your footsteps will soon be moved,

But only at “Wit’s End Corner”

Is the “God who is able” proved.

 

–Antoinette Wilson

 

Do not get discouraged; it may be the last key in the bunch that opens the door. Stansifer

 

Frantic Administration of Panaceas

From C.S. Lewis “The World’s Last Night” makes me think of Stalin’s attempts to modernize and industrialize the former Soviet Union the thirty years he was supreme dictator.  Seems other current governments  have grandiose ideas for the future at the expense of their people they are meant to serve.

 

“Frantic administration of panaceas to the world is certainly discouraged by the reflection that ‘this present’ might be ‘the world’s last night’; sober work for the future, within the limits of ordinary morality and prudence, is not.  For what comes is Judgement: happy are those whom it finds labouring in their vocations, laying good plans to deliver humanity a hundred years hence from some great evil.  The curtain has indeed now fallen. Those pigs will never in fact be fed, the great campaign against White Slavery or Governmental Tyranny will never in fact proceed to victory. No matter: you were at your post when the Inspection came.”