The Screwtape Letters: Chapter 6

Each week I will summarize a chapter from The Screwtape Letters.

In this chapter Lewis talks about how we must be concerned with the things we can control, and the things present in our life. We have a tendency to focus on the things that are out of our control, or the things that "might happen," and this can cause us to neglect the here and now.

"He wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them." (28)

Lewis talks also about what we think of when we picture "carrying our cross," which Jesus tells us is necessary if we want to follow Him. When we think of it, we might think of the fears that we have, or the things that might happen but we are trying to mentally prepare ourselves for.

But then, at the same time we are preparing ourselves, we are complaining about some work project, or how we think we should make a little more money, or that so and so said something rude to us. And on and on. But those are the crosses we are called to carry, those are the things where we must simply submit to the Lord's will.

Let us then focus on the things that are in our control, the trials that we currently face in our life and just can't seem to get over or stop thinking about. Let us focus on the things we can change, and the people we can help. Then we will be doing the will of God and carrying out His plan.

The Screwtape Letters: Chapter 5

Each week I will summarize a chapter from The Screwtape Letters.

In this chapter they are discussing a war that is going on in the world. Initially, Screwtape is happy because he believes it an ideal time to make the person "bad," but Wormwood warns him to not think it so easy.

It reminds us that there can be good through any circumstance and any trial. Even terrible things such as war, we can learn and grow from them. We know that God means to bring out a positive in any situation. We must look at all of the hardships in life, and all of the bad things around us, as opportunities to grow closer to God and grow in virtue.

There is another line in this chapter that really hits home for me:

"And how disastrous for us is the continual remembrance of death which war enforces. One of our best weapons, contended worldliness, is rendered useless. In wartime not even a human can believe that he is going to live forever." (27)

This was good for me to read because I am still at the point in life where it seems like (in my mind) I will live forever. And most definitely that can lead to a sense of complacency, and that I will have forever to do the things that I want, to help who I want to help, and become the person I want to be.

But the funny thing about life is that we don't actually have all of that time. Things can change in an instant... the only certainty in life is that it won't go as planned. It reminds me of a quote from Steve Jobs Commencement Speech (emphasis mine):

"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

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Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma–which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Today is the day to start doing the things you really want in life, to become the person you've always wanted to be.

The Screwtape Letters: Chapter 4

Each week I will summarize a chapter from The Screwtape Letters

This chapter deals with prayer. Oftentimes we find our prayer simply meandering... our mind focuses on something else, and all of a sudden we are not really praying, we are thinking about what is on our to do list. It is then that we stop listening to God for advice, and simply try to follow our own path, which does not lead us anywhere.

Lewis writes:

"He may be persuaded to aim at something entirely spontaneous, inward, informal, and unregularized; and what this will actually mean to be a beginner will be an effort to produce in himself a vaguely devotional mood in which real concentration of will and intelligence have no part." (20)

For me, this definitely is true at times. I will go in with the intent of praying, and leave not really sure I actually listened to what God was trying to tell me. I let myself be distracted and therefore miss the prayer itself.

We must focus on aligning our wills with God when we pray. Focus on talking and listening to Him, and what He wants to tell us. When we are able to zone into this... and not simply think about what we have to do when we stop praying, that is when prayer can and will have a transformative affect on our life.

The Screwtape Letters: Chapter 3

Each week I will summarize a chapter from The Screwtape Letters

This chapter is a our relationships with other people, especially close friends and relatives. I have found this especially true in the circumstance of young adult moving back in with the parents, or even being home for a holiday break. All of a sudden, everything bugs you, especially when it is done by your parents.

Who has not experienced something similar to what Lewis describes here?

"In civilized life domestic hatred usually expresses itself by saying things which would appear quite harmless on paper (the words are not offensive) but in such a voice, or at such a moment, that they are not far short of a blow in the face... Your patient must demand that all of his utterances are to be taken at their face value and judged simply on their actual words, while at the same time judging all his mother's utterances with the fullest and most oversensitive interpretation of the tone and the context of the suspected intention." (17-18)

Lewis hits this so perfectly on the head in my opinion that I can hardly think of anything to add. This is a very easy trap to get into, especially with parents and those people who we spend a lot of time around. We must be careful to make sure that we see the splint in our own eye.

We must also make a thorough self-examination, and honestly look at our lives and the way that we are living. We do not want to fall into the trap that Lewis explains:

"Aggravate that most useful human characteristic, the horror and neglect of the obvious. You must bring him to a condition in which he can practice self-examination for an hour without discovering any of those facts about himself which are perfectly clear to anyone who has ever lived in the same house with him or worked in the same office." (16)

If we are going to grow and improve as people, we must be able to honestly assess our faults. Spend some time in prayer and contemplation on this. If we don't know what areas we struggle, we will be unable to grow in them.

Do these things apply to your life?

The Screwtape Letters: Chapter 1

Each week I will summarize a chapter from The Screwtape Letters, a book by CS Lewis in which a senior demon named Screwtape is writing to his nephew, Wormwood, giving him advice on leading a man to damnation.

In Chapter 1, the message Lewis is trying to convey is clear - we need to fill our minds with higher things, and constantly be challenging ourselves. If we stand still in life and be content with the "ordinary," we are susceptible to a fall. Lewis writes:

"You begin to see the point? Thanks to processes which we set at work in them centuries ago, they find it all but impossible to believe in the unfamiliar while the familiar is before their eyes. Keep pressing home on him the ordinariness of things." (10)

The world that we live in is quite extraordinary. We seem to have lost that sense of wonder, and regard almost everything that we come across as being ordinary. We are content to live our little lives, and never challenge our brain to learn and grow, never try to see things in new ways.

Last week, I was on a flight... and there I was, flying above the clouds, looking down on the Earth... WOW! It just struck me how amazing, how incredible it was, that we can fly to different places around the world. We have the technology to build an airplane and fly it around the world safely. It blows my mind. Looking down on the clouds rather than looking up at them... how can that not fill you with wonder?

We should constantly be trying to learn more about the world in which we live in and try to see it and understand it in new ways. After all, since God created the world we live in, when we understand that better (and the things that happen in it better), we can understand Him better.

When are content with ordinariness, we are missing the point... we are missing the grandeur that is all around us, and we can even begin to miss God.