about the film "Shadowlands", starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger. A film made by Richard Attenborough, it is a lovely, moving film about C.S. Lewis and his wife, Helen Joy Davidman Gresham. I am only about 1/3 of the way through the film this evening, but as I was preparing for bed, something jumped out at me, and it is slightly related to what I was saying earlier in my note about "The Little Prince".
"I don't think God particularly wants us to be happy. I think He wants us to love and be loved. He wants us to grow up! We are like children, and we think that our toys provide all our happiness, and that our nursery is the whole wide world. But something must drive us out of the nursery and into the world of others....and that something is suffering."
It just reminds me of what Fr Melitios said at the end of chapter 2 about the closer we get to God, the closer we get to each other. And I also agree with C.S. Lewis regarding suffering. Sorrow and suffering are a part of our lives, and they are God's tools to shape us, "we arel like blocks of stone...the blows of His chisel which hurt us so much, are what make us perfect"....and do indeed drive us into the world of others. Even in the allegorical novel, "Hinds Feet on High Places" the companions whom the Shephard chooses for the main character, Much-Afraid, are called Sorrow and Suffering. If one thinks about it, there is a quiet, exquisite beauty about suffering. And when one remembers the story of the footsteps in the sand....we are reminded that it is most often when we feel that God is the furthest away, that He is actually standing right beside us. Because He will never abandon us. That is an indescribable comfort. It is The Light that shines in our darkest hours, just before the dawn breaks.
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