Nothing New

There really is nothing new under the sun. Every time I think I've said something clever, or maybe even something that nobody's thought of before, I come across someone who beat me to it. Truth is, I probably got it from them and just forgot. Flipping through my well-marked copy of Mere Christianity, I keep spotting statements by Lewis that I thought were my ideas. Or maybe I just forgot that he seems to have discovered the same things that the rest of us have been discovering.

I've just finished writing the first draft of a book (which I hope to title Christ in Y'all). And since I'm kind of "writing-ed out" for now, I think for the next few days I'd like to post some Lewis quotes that I've come across. Today I think I'll start with this one:

"...the very moment you wake up each morning...All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day." (Beyond Personality, chapter 8)

Walter Hooper tells a story that in 1954, Bob Jones, founder of the fundamentalist university by the same name, once met Lewis and had a long private conversation. When asked later for his opinion of Lewis, Jones is said to have replied, "That man smokes a pipe, and that man drinks liquor — but I do believe he’s a Christian."

That man was high-church, too. But I like 'im.