CS Lewis wrote a book, That Hideous Strength. It is one of my favorite novels. Early in the story we meet a newly married woman named Jane, who has discovered that marriage is not what she imagined. In fact she imagined a lot about her life that just isn’t so. And some things have come up that she never intended. Her initial reaction is to reject uninvited realities, and to be miserable about her disappointments. She thought her life could be made by her, her marriage, her identity. Gradually she acknowledges that this was never an option in God’s plan. Always she has been His, with a role to play that he wrote, that fits in best with others who are surrendered to the author’s intentions. And what a disaster when you fight it.
The whole earth is suffering from just such a rebellion. Every man is trying to make himself God and the world in his own wisdom, trampling others, insanely overlooking facts of nature. But the Church is meant to stand opposite the chaos, showing how every part does its share through the measure of gifting supplied from God, keeping our places as God has set each in the Body. CS Lewis uses the house of Ransom to depict this unity in diversity, showing not only how much we need each other, but how we are most ourselves when seeking how to bless one another instead of trying to figure out who we are and what life we want. Let others tell us, or by their needs reveal to us, what becomes us.
To God be all glory,
Lisa of Longbourn
Lisa of Longbourn 