When a person makes mention
of Western North Carolina or the Northeast Georgia mountains, it stirs
something deep within me…a longing that, for all these years, I could not
identify. True, I have fond memories of my early summers that were spent at my
Grandmother's place outside Highands, North Carolina. I have great memories of
travels with friends to go "leaf hunting" in the fall around Clayton,
Georgia and, lately of hiking adventures with Peggy and our wonderful, four
legged hiking companion, Missy around Ellijay and Blue Ridge,
Georgia. But, now I know that stirring, that intense longing, is something we
all share, whether we acknowledge it or not. No, it is not about mountains or beautiful
scenery, I think C.S. Lewis explains that longing we all have and why some of
us just do not recognize it for what it is.
“If you read history you
will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just
those who thought most of the next. The
Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the
great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished
the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds
were occupied with Heaven. It is since
Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have
become so ineffective in this. Aim at
Heaven and you will get earth “thrown in”: aim at earth and you will get
neither.”
"Most of us find it
very difficult to want "Heaven" at all-except in so far as
"Heaven" means meeting again our loved ones who have died. One reason
for this difficulty is that we have not been trained; our whole education tends
to fix our minds on this world. Another reason is that although the real want
for Heaven is present in us, we do not recognize it. Most people, if they had
really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and
want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts
of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep
their promise. These longings first arise in us when we first fall in love, or
first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites
us, are longings which no marriage or holidays or learned careers can really
satisfy….There was something we grasped at, in that first moment of longing,
which fades away in reality. Now there are two wrong ways of dealing with this
fact, and one right one.
1. The Fool's Way - He
puts the blame on the thing itself. ("If only" seems to be his cry.
If only , I tried another woman, or went for a more expensive trip..)
2. The Way of the Disillusioned
"Sensible Man." - He soon decides the whole thing was just moonshine.
('not real, just a phase'- emphasis mine)
3. The Christian Way - The
Christian says, "Creatures are not born with desires unless a satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger:
well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim; well there is
such a thing as water.
Men feel sexual desire;
well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no
experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I
was made for a different world….I must keep alive in myself for my true
country, which I shall not find till after death. – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Chapter 10, Hope.
I was reading my
favorite periodical, Gray's Sporting Journal
and came across this article. The author of this was describing a time of
fishing together with her father. I think what she was describing but not
realizing was that same longing to know what is inside us all…the thing that
C.S. Lewis so brilliantly identifies. Here is what she says,
"There was nothing but
stillness, a bit of steam rising, shadows ricocheting off the rock walls of the
gorge in the morning sunlight. There is a sensation, in a moment like that, of
knowing more than anyone else. Of being a part of something so subtle, so
natural, that you feel you're no longer the person careening through the maze
of successful America, buying things, having important careers, growing and
besting everyone because you know if you don't, others are waiting in the wings
to crawl over you on their way to the top. Instead, in a moment like that,
there is a feeling of tapping into something authentic, of understanding in
your gut, how freedom really feels. To stand still in something created by a
force greater that even the greatest of us can ever be."
From Fishing with My Father, Katherine Robb, Gray's Sporting Journal
March/April 2015
Isn't it true for you?
Isn't there a longing you feel…maybe it expresses itself as a restlessness. St. Augustine says, "Our hearts are
restless until they rest in Thee."
Blessings
to You and Yours as we celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. He is Risen, He is Risen , Indeed!
P.S. Hey Friends, I have just discovered that Amazon has a
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