Forgive and Forget

C.S. Lewis Sunday - Progress

"Would you think I was joking if I said that you can put a clock back, and that if the clock is wrong it is often a very sensible thing to do? ... We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man. We have all seen this when doing arithmetic. When I have started a sum the wrong way, the sooner I admit this and go back and start again, the faster I shall get on. There is nothing progressive about being pig headed and refusing to admit a mistake. And I think if you look at the present state of the world, it is pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistake. We are on the wrong road. And if that is so, we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on."

--C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Related Post:

Tag, You're It!

C.S. Lewis Sunday - Count the Cost

"Law, in his terrible, cool voice, said,...'If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God, it will make in the end no difference what you have chosen instead.' Those are hard words to take. Will it really make no difference whether it was women or patriotism, cocaine or art, whiskey or a seat in the Cabinet, money or science? Well, surely no difference that matters. We shall have missed the end for which we are formed and rejected the only thing that satisfies. Does it matter to a man dying in a desert by which choice of route he missed the only well? 

"It is a remarkable fact that on this subject Heaven and Hell speak with one voice. The tempter tells me, 'Take care. Think how much this good resolve, the acceptance of this Grace, is going to cost.' But Our Lord equally tells us to count the cost. Even in human affairs great importance is attached to the agreement of those whose testimony hardly ever agrees. Here, more. Between them it would seem to be pretty clear that paddling [near the shore] is of little consequence. What matters, what Heaven desires and Hell fears, is precisely that further step, out of our depth, out of our own control." 

--C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Choose Light!

“To be Jedi is to face the truth, and choose. Give off light, or darkness, Padawan. Be a candle, or the night.”

--YODA, Dark Rendezvous

I decided that it might be nice to periodically share my Pinterest quotes. If they relate to any of my past posts, I will include a link, like I have done below. And by the way, if you haven't discovered Pinterest yet...Oh. My. Goodness! You are SO missing out! You will LOVE it! Just click on the red "Follow me on Pinterest" button up in the upper right-hand corner. I'd love to see your pins! Here's one of mine:

Click to View Related Past Post:

Two Wolves

Two Glasses of Water

"The world says . . . I am my own master; I am an independent being; I will take my own course, etc...'I am a free man; I will be damned if I don't do as I please, etc.' Well, I will tell you another part of that story. You will be damned if you *do* act as you please, unless you please to do and to keep the laws of God. We cannot violate his laws with impunity nor trample under foot these eternal principles which exist in all nature. If all nature is compelled to be governed by law or suffer loss, why not man?"

--John Taylor

Imagine one of these glasses of water represents someone that disciplines themself to live by a set of high moral standards, the other represents someone caught up in unrestrained pleasure seeking.

With each unrestrained act, the pleasure seeker loses a sip of water from the glass.

At first it sure looks like the pleasure seeker got something the disciplined person missed. Turn that thinking around. The pleasure seeker is clearly the one that’s missing something.

--Object lesson used by Brad Wilcox

Related Links:

The Freedom Paradox
Pleasure vs. Happiness
Happiness and Ice Cream

C.S. Lewis Sunday - Morality and Peace

"The price of peace is righteousness. Peace cannot be imposed. It must come from the lives and hearts of men. There is no other way."

--Ezra Taft Benson

"There are two ways in which the human machine goes wrong. One is when human individuals drift apart from one another, or else collide with one another and do one another damage, by cheating or bullying. The other is when things go wrong inside the individual--when the different parts of him (his different faculties and desires and so on) either drift apart or interfere with one another. You can get the idea plain if you think of us as a fleet of ships sailing in formation. The voyage will be a success only, in the first place, if the ships do not collide and get in one another's way; and, secondly, if each ship is seaworthy and has her engines in good order. As a matter of fact, you cannot have either of these two things without the other. If the ships keep on having collisions they will not remain seaworthy. Or, if you like, think of humanity as a band playing a tune. To get a good result, you need two things. Each player's individual instrument must be in tune and also each must come in at the right moment so as to combine with all the others. ...

"Morality, then, seems to be concerned with three things. Firstly, with fair play and harmony between individuals. Secondly, with what might be called tidying up or harmonizing the things inside each individual. Thirdly, with the general purpose of human life as a whole: what man was made for: what course the whole fleet ought to be on: what tune the conductor of the band wants it to play. ...

"Almost all people at all times have agreed (in theory) that human beings ought to be honest and kind and helpful to one another. But though it is natural to begin with all that, if our thinking about morality stops there, we might just as well not have thought at all. Unless we go on  to the second thing--the tidying up inside each human being --we are only deceiving ourselves.

"What is the good of telling the ships how to steer so as to avoid collisions if, in fact, they are such crazy old tubs that they cannot be steered at all? What is the good of drawing up, on paper, rules for social behaviour, if we know that, in fact, our greed, cowardice, ill temper, and self-conceit are going to prevent us from keeping them? I do not mean for a moment that we ought not to think, and think hard, about improvements in our social and economic system. What I do mean is that all that thinking will be mere moonshine unless we realize that nothing but the courage and unselfishness of individuals is ever going to make any system work properly. It is easy enough to remove the particular kinds of graft or bullying that go on under the present system: but as long as men are twisters or bullies they will find some new way of carrying on the old game under the new system. You cannot make men good by law: and without good men you cannot have a good society."

--C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Related Posts:
Tag, You’re It 
C.S. Lewis Sunday - Fuel  
The Freedom Paradox  
C.S. Lewis Sunday – Resistance: The Measure of Strength  
Two Glasses of Water

Quotes From My Favorite Movie

It was recently brought to my attention that it's surprising that quotes from my favorite book/movie have yet to show up on my blog. I've been blogging for 3 months now, so I guess it is about time I unleashed the beast that is my obsession with The Lord of the Rings. And I'm not going to be conservative about it, either. I'm just going to DUMP every geeky drop of it on you by sharing my most favorite quotes/scenes with you! And because I know you'll ask: Yes, I did pause/type/rewind to get them. Yes, I am proud of it. No, I can't explain why I like some of them; it's just a feeling I get in my soul when I hear the words. It's something like fulfillment; like my heart found a missing piece I didn't know was missing until I heard the words. I know, I know...I'm hopelessly in love. Smitten. Besotted. Enraptured. All of it...

You know what would make my ardent LOTR heart skip a beat? If you would share YOUR favorite quotes/scenes from the movie, too. At least then I wouldn't feel alone in my love. Misery loves company, people. So spill! ;) 

“I think a servant of the enemy would look fairer and feel fouler.” --Frodo (Fellowship)

“Many that live deserve death, some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death and judgment. Even the very wise can not see all ends.”--Gandalf (Fellowship)

Frodo: “I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.” 

Gandalf: “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides that of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the ring. In which case, you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.”

--Frodo and Gandalf (Fellowship)

“Alas, that these evil days should be mine. The young perish and the old linger. That I should live to see the last days of my house…No parent should have to bury their child.” --Theoden, King of Rohan (Two Towers)

Eowyn: “I fear neither death nor pain.” 

Aragorn: “What do you fear, my lady?” 

Eowyn: “A cage. To stay behind bars until use and old age accept them. And all chance of valor has gone beyond recall or desire.” 

Aragorn: “You are a daughter of kings; a shield maiden of Rohan. I do not think that will be your fate.”

--Eowyn and Aragon (Two Towers)

“My lady, a time may come for valor without renown. Who then will your people look to in the last defense?” --Aragorn (Two Towers)

Frodo: “Why do you do that? Call him names; run him down all the time?” 

Sam: “Because…that’s what he is, Mister Frodo. There’s not left in him but lies and deceit. It’s the ring he wants. It’s all he cares about.” 

Frodo: “You have no idea what it did to him; what it’s still doing to him. I want to help him Sam.” 

Sam: “Why?” 
Frodo: “Because I have to believe he can come back.” 

Sam: “You can’t save him, Mister Frodo.” 

Frodo: “What do you know about it? I’m sorry Sam, I don’t know why I said that.” 

Sam: “I do. It’s the ring. You can’t take your eyes off it. You’re not eatin’. You barely sleep. It’s taken hold of you, Frodo. You have to fight it!” 

Frodo: “I know what I have to do, Sam! It’s my task - my own!” 

Sam: “Can’t you hear yourself? Don’t you know who you sound like? [Like him! Gollum!]

--Frodo and Sam (Two Towers) 

“It’s like in the great stories mister Frodo – the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end it’s only a passing thing - this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come and when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those are the stories that stay with you; that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mister Frodo, I do understand; I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something. (Frodo: “And what are we holding onto Sam?”) “That there’s some good in this world, Mister Frodo. And it’s worth fightin’ for!” --Sam (Two Towers)

Elrond: “The life of the Eldar is leaving you.” 

Arwen: “It was my choice. Ada, either by your will or not, there is no ship now that can bear me hence.”

--Elrond and Arwen (Return of the King)

“You think you are wise, Mithrandir. Yet, for all your subtleties you have not wisdom. Do you think the eyes of the White Tower are blind? I have seen more than you know. With your left hand you would use me as a sword against Mordor and with your right you’d seek to supplant me. I know who rides with Theoden of Rohan. Oh, yes. Word has reached my ears of this Aragorn, son of Arathorn. But I tell you now I will not bow to this Ranger of the North. Last of a ragged house long bereft of Lordship; the rule of Gondor is mine, and no other’s!” --Lord Denethor, Steward of Gondor (Return of the King)

PIPPIN:  So I imagine this is just a ceremonial position. I mean, they don’t actually expect me to do any fighting, do they?

GANDALF: You’re in the service of the steward now.  You’ll have to do as you are told Peregrin Took. Ridiculous Hobbit!  Guard of the Citadel!

PIPPIN: There’s no more stars!  Is it time? 

GANDALF: Yes.

PIPPIN:  It’s so quiet.   

GANDALF: It’s the deep breath before the plunge.
PIPPIN: I don’t want to be in a battle. But waiting on the edge of one I can’t escape is even worse. Is there any hope Gandalf, for Frodo and Sam?
GANDALF:  There never was much hope. Just a fool’s hope.

--Pippin and Gandalf (Return of the King)

“The stars are veiled. Something stirs in the east; a sleepless malice. The eye of the enemy is moving.” –Legolas (Return of the King)

“I’m just a Hobbit. I know I can’t save middle earth. I just want to help my friends.” --Meriadoc (Return of the King)

"Courage, Meri. Courage for our friends." --Eowyn (Return of the King)

Witch King of Angmar: "Fool. No man can kill me. Die now."
Eowyn: "I am no man!"

--My favorite scene (Return of the King)

“The road must be trod, but it will be very hard.  And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it.  This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong.  Yet it is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world:  small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere" --J.R.R. Tolkien, LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

--J.R.R. Tolkien, The Riddle of Strider

Here's the second half of The Riddle of Strider from the movie. LOVE IT!

C.S. Lewis Sunday - Resistance: The Measure of Strength

“No man knows how bad he is until he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation is. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German Army after fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by walking against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after 5 minutes simply does not know what it would’ve been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They’ve always lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it. And Christ, because he was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation really means.”

–C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Related Posts: 

C.S. Lewis Sunday – Morality and Peace
Two Glasses of Water
The Freedom Paradox  

C.S. Lewis Sunday - Fuel

Beauty and the Beast

"When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure."

--Peter Marshall

Last week, I watched a modern-day re-telling of the old Beauty and the Beast story with my children. They range in age from 8 to 14, so at the conclusion of the movie I thought it was more than appropriate to expect at least a couple of them to have picked up on the message. I was looking for something akin to “External beauty is only skin deep. Real substance is on the inside.” Yeah...was I in for a surprise! It looked promising when my 10 year old son took a moment to ponder. But when he concluded, “Don’t be mean to ugly ladies!” I was sure he had completely missed the  point.

We had a good, hearty laugh followed by an excellent discussion as I took the opportunity to teach the message I expected them to learn. But during the discussion, my son kept reiterating what he had said and insisting it was a better lesson because had the prince been nice to the old witch, the whole affair could have been avoided. And he’s right; it could have been avoided. Had he missed the point, or had I?

Hmm. Thought provoking! Is it better to make excellent choices, or is it better to make mistakes and let Life sort out your faults?

I’ve thought about that a lot through the years. There are things in my past that I’m not proud of--choices I wish I hadn’t made--that led to negative consequences that caused a lot of heartache for myself and others. But now that they are in my past, I have to admit that on some level, I’m glad I experienced it all because, like the prince, the consequences of my mistakes (the Beast) made me a better person. If I hadn’t made the mistakes, would I be who I am today? No.

I think if you asked the prince after the Beast was behind him, he would tell you he was glad the whole thing happened to him, too. He’d probably tell you the same thing I’m about to tell you: Even if I had the option to go back and choose differently to avoid the Beast, I wouldn’t. I’d do it all over again because all that I gained was worth the price I paid.

I have also experienced other unpleasant trials in my life that were completely out of my control that caused heartache as well: death, illness, betrayal, poverty, loss, etc. But while I know many would disagree with me on this point, even these experiences have made me stronger and I wouldn’t change them.

On the other hand, I have always understood the importance of living by a set of noble, moral standards. At times, I know living up to my standards has saved me considerable grief and/or pain. It has certainly given me the peace of a clear conscience. This way of living is epitomized in the character of the Beauty. Her choices were noble and kind. She saw the value of the Beast and overlooked his incongruous outward appearance. She was everything the Beast was not--his antithesis in every way. But did her goodness prevent ALL adversity? No. She was enslaved and treated badly despite her goodness. But it was her determination to make the best of her circumstances and to continue choosing kindness in the face of her hardships that changed everything. It was only then that her goodness inspired the Beast’s change, and his inner nobility born from that change that inspired her love. They were connected and strengthened by the contrary winds of struggle.

Maybe just because their paths to improvement were divergent, it doesn’t have to mean one is “right” and one is “wrong”. The point is that there is no path that saves us from adversity, nor should we expect or desire a life free from it. Sometimes we’re the Beauty and sometimes we’re the Beast. Without the opposing forces, there would be no story. Without free will, struggle, and suffering there would be no value in nobility, no learning, no character development, no purpose…no Beauty in life.

Related  Posts:

Being Wrong
Got Glue?

Two Wolves

"The greatest battles of life are fought out daily in the silent chambers of the soul."

--David O. McKay

 I've been thinking of the following story for several days now. I love it for 2 reasons. One, because I have Cherokee ancestry; and two, because I have recently been feeling a battle within myself like the one mentioned in the story. It has helped me to remember which wolf to feed, so I thought I'd share.

Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a  

battle that goes on inside people.  He said, "My son,  

The battle is between two 'wolves' inside us all.  

One is Evil.  It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret,  

greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment  

Inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.

  The other is Good.  It is joy, peace, love, hope,  

serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence,  

empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."  

The grandson thought about it for a minute  

and then asked his grandfather,  

"Which wolf wins?"  

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

C.S. Lewis Sunday - Cattle or Sons?

In order to post the following C.S. Lewis quote, a quick explanation is in order. For those who may not already know, C.S. Lewis wrote a book from the perspective of several tempting devils, entitled The Screwtape Letters. You may, at first, think this is abominable, but in actuality, it is very enlightening to get the story from the other side of the war for your soul. The following is a quote from that 'other side' where "Our Father" means Satan and "The Enemy" means God. You'll see what I mean. Oh, and I made one of the phrases into a link to a previous Savvy and Sage blog post that deals directly with that subject, if you're interested. Enjoy!

"Now it may surprise you to learn that in His [the Enemy's] efforts to get permanent possession of a soul, He relies on the troughs even more than on the peaks; some of His special favorites have gone through longer and deeper troughs than anyone else. The reason is this. To us a human is primarily food; our aim is the absorption of its will into ours, the increase of our own area of selfhood at its expense. But the obedience which the Enemy demands of men is quite a different thing. One must face the fact that all the talk about His love for men, and His service being perfect freedom, is not (as one would gladly believe) mere propaganda, but an appalling truth. He really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of Himself--creatures whose life, on its miniature scale, will be qualitatively like His own, not because He has absorbed them but because their wills freely conform to His. We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons. We want to suck in, He wants to give out. We are empty and would be filled; He is full and flows over. Our war aim is a world in which Our Father Below has drawn all other beings into himself: the Enemy wants a world full of beings united to Him but still distinct."

 --C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

C.S. Lewis Sunday - Enemy-Occupied Territory

I love this idea of Christianity and have thought of it often. Next time you don't feel like going to church, think of this quote and go listen-in to the secret wireless from our friends! Enjoy!

"One of the things that surprised me when I first read the New Testament seriously was that it talked so much about a Dark Power in the universe--a mighty evil spirit who was held to be the Power behind death and disease, and sin. The difference is that Christianity thinks this Dark Power was created by God, and was good when he was created, and went wrong. Christianity agrees with Dualism that this universe is at war. But it does not think this is a war between independent powers. It thinks it is a civil war, a rebellion, and that we are living in a part of the universe occupied by the rebel. 

"Enemy-occupied territory--that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. When you go to church you are really listening-in to the secret wireless from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going. He does it by playing on our conceit and laziness and intellectual snobbery."

--C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

C.S. Lewis Sunday - Fuel

Anyone who knows me, knows that my favorite author is C.S. Lewis. I love him because he makes me think. His writing has opened my eyes and enlightened my mind on countless subjects. He has made me a better person and a better Christian. For that I thank him with all my heart and attempt to honor him by dedicating my blog to quotes from his various works every Sunday. I hope that you will gain as much from him as I have.

 

“God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.

“That is the key to history. Terrific energy is expended—civilizations are built up—excellent institutions devised; but each time something goes wrong. Some fatal flaw always brings the selfish and cruel people to the top and it all slides back into misery and ruin. In fact, the machine conks. It seems to start up all right and runs a few yards, and then it breaks down. They are trying to run it on the wrong juice. That is what Satan has done to us humans.”

--C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Related Posts: 

 C.S. Lewis Sunday – Resistance: The Measure of Strength  
C.S. Lewis Sunday – Morality and Peace  
Tag, You’re It