Permit me to muse on about life with G.K. Chesterton a bit further. In 'Orthodoxy' he continues his theme of children being fierce and free with God-like enthusiasm. He suggests, 'A tree grows fruit because it is a magic tree. It is the man who talks about a law he has never seen who is a mystic.' 'Having a nose is more comic even than having a roman nose.' 'God made the frog jump; but the frog prefers jumping.' He returns to grownup land with, 'I could never mix in the common murmur of that rising generation against monogomy, because no restriction on sex seemed so odd and unexpected as sex itself. Keeping to one woman is a small price for so much as seeing one woman.' Here is the wrap up: 'The test of all happiness is gratitude; and I felt grateful, though I hardly knew to whom. Children are grateful when Santa Claus puts in their stockings gifts of toys or sweets. Could I not be grateful to Santa Claus when he put in my stockings the gift of two miraculous legs? We thank people for birthday presents of cigars and slippers. Can I thank no one for the birthday present of birth.' (p60)
GK Chesterton is explaining his journey from atheism to God. He suggests that it was the awareness of gratitude that caused him to think that there was magic in the world and behind the magic a Magician. One who delighted in surprising people of faith. One who delighted in their delight. I want to share the delight of children and discover God afresh!
One last thought: 'Humility was largely meant as a restraint upon the arrogance and infinity of the appetite of man. He was always outstripping his mercies with his own newly invented needs. His very power of enjoyment destroyed half his joys. By asking for pleasure, he lost the chief pleasure; for the chief pleasure is surprise. Hence it became evident that if a man would make his world large, he must be always making himself small. It is impossible without humility to enjoy anything - even pride.' (p36)
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
My God-drenched world
I read a book shortly after returning from 4 years in Tatarstan, Russia ten years ago that still affects me today. It's called, "Orthodoxy" by G.K. Chesterton. Despite its title, the incredibly long thoughts that sometimes stretch for pages at a time, and the fact that it was written in 1908 when GK was a young man - it is amazingly relevant. I'll let him speak for himself:
"...it might be true that the sun rises regularly because he never gets tired of rising. His routine might be due, not to a lifelessness, but to a rush of life. The thing I mean can be seen, for instance, in children, when they find some game or joke that they specially enjoy. A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, 'Do it again'; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, 'Do it again' to the sun; and every evening, 'Do it again' to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has an eternal appetite for infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a Theatrical encore."
(Ignatius Press reprinted 1995 pp65,66)
This is the enthusiastic God that my discouragements never mirror. This is the Lord of Creation that I go to for refreshment and rejuvenation. This is the eternally joyful God of the Bible who works good through all things. This is my Redeemer whom I worship. We are transparent before Him and constantly in need of His refreshment. Yet we hide.
"...it might be true that the sun rises regularly because he never gets tired of rising. His routine might be due, not to a lifelessness, but to a rush of life. The thing I mean can be seen, for instance, in children, when they find some game or joke that they specially enjoy. A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, 'Do it again'; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, 'Do it again' to the sun; and every evening, 'Do it again' to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has an eternal appetite for infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a Theatrical encore."
(Ignatius Press reprinted 1995 pp65,66)
This is the enthusiastic God that my discouragements never mirror. This is the Lord of Creation that I go to for refreshment and rejuvenation. This is the eternally joyful God of the Bible who works good through all things. This is my Redeemer whom I worship. We are transparent before Him and constantly in need of His refreshment. Yet we hide.
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