Clive Staples Lewis

C.S. Lewis is one of my favorite authors of all time.

(in fact, its on my list of things 'to-do over Christmas break' to reread some of his works)

If you've ready anything by him, you understand.

If not, you are missing out on one of the most wise, well spoken (err..written?) authors of all time. 

Last spring, J and I bought of book of his works to work through together, but we never really committed to it.

recently, though, I've been thumbing through on my own.

and its been delightful.

I thought I'd share this excerpt from the other day. Its really had me thinking.

"Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as 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 Evangelical 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. It seems a strange rule, but something like it can be seen at work in other matters. Health is a great blessing, but the moment you make health one of your main, direct objects you start becoming a crank and imagining there is something wrong with you. You are only likely to get health provided you want other things more- food, games, work, fun, open air. In the same way, we shall never save civilisation as long as civilisation is our main object. We must learn to want something else even more."**

-from Mere Christianity

**italics added