Kelly Anne Leahy - C.S. Lewis Little Book of Wisdom: Meditations on Faith, Life, Love and Literature

First published in 2018 by HarperCollinsPublishers

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FIRST EDITION

Copyright 2018 HarperCollinsPublishers
Text C. S. Lewis Pte Ltd
Compiled by Andrea Kirk Assaf and Kelly Anne Leahy
Cover illustration and lion illustration credit: Shutterstock.com
Cover and text design by e-Digital Design

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780008282479
Ebook Edition April 2018 ISBN: 9780008309374
Version: 2018-05-25

W hen all the suns and nebulae have passed away, each one of you will still be alive.

The Weight of Glory

U pon reading the words of Clive Staples Lewis, it does not take long to feel as though you are an intimate friend, as though it is just the two of you sharing a pint in The Eagle and Child, his favorite pub, or a cup of tea by the fireside in his sitting room.

When we picture him, Lewis might be wearing a cozy dressing gown and slippers, or a tweed jacket with a smoking pipe in hand. But do not let these comforting associations fool you; Lewis is the master of laying bare human folly and getting to the heart of the matter.

Although in a most approachable manner, his wit can bite, and his wisdom can expose our doubts to the light of day. His insight can be so jarring because it comes directly from his own experience; it comes from a life deeply pondered and bravely lived.

In both the world of Narnia and in his Christian apologetical works, Lewis draws us up close to the comforting fireplace with his conversational style. Just as weve warmed up, he catches us off guard by stirring up the hot coals of truth and striking our consciences with a burning clarity.

Consider this quote:

When a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitors stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards

Aslans sacrifice on Edmunds behalf atop the White Witchs stone table invokes a deep magic that breaks the bond of death. All this requires little explanation to the reader, and indeed is better appreciated without an explanation. In this brief excerpt from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Lewis successfully employs the Moral Imagination, seamlessly weaving profound theological insight through a captivating story.

Contemplating the wisdom of Lewis pulls us into an experience not unlike that of Eustace Scrubbthat nasty little boy who is transformed into a dragon through his selfishness in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Only when he sheds great dragon tears of repentance does Aslan appear and peel away the scaly skin.

The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart.

And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything Ive ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off Then he caught hold of meI didnt like that much for I was very tender underneath now that Id no skin onand threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. Id turned into a boy again.

In the pages that follow, you will find, dear reader, maps to help you make the same journey as that of Eustace ScrubbLewis words of wisdom on how we should live as Christians, embrace the gift of joy, transform grief, learn how to love, see reality through the imagination, enjoy friendship, find reason to hope, recognize sin, understand the nature of God, and seek Aslans country.

So pull up a chair by the fire; its time for a conversation with a wise friend.

Our drinks are at our elbows the whole world, and something beyond the world, opens itself to our minds as we talk The Four Loves

Andrea Kirk Assaf and Kelly Anne Leahy
20 November, 2017
Remus, Michigan, U.S.A.

E very Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.

Mere Christianity

W e are always falling in love or quarreling, looking for jobs or fearing to lose them, getting ill and recovering, following public affairs. If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work. The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavorable. Favorable conditions never come.

The Weight of Glory

T he terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole selfall your wishes and precautionsto Christ.

Mere Christianity

A good, but unexamined life will be high on duty and not likely to celebrate the odd paradoxes, the ironic coincidences, and the humor of being dirt

Surprised by Joy

T he more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we becomebecause He made us. He invented us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.

Mere Christianity

Y ou never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldnt you then first discover how much you really trusted it?