One year ago today I resigned from my office job to go on this quixotic seminary experience. (In my writer's paranoia, I had to look up "quixotic" to make certain that it fit precisely what I want to say--"exceedingly idealist; unrealistic and impractical"--yup, that about captures it.) Honestly, I haven't regretted for a nanosecond that decision, although I do have a fond remembrance of those bimonthly paychecks.
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis is not among my favorite books, but in it he does highlight one eternal truth: some people prefer a self-inflicted, self-contained misery to an experience of grace. As an extremely brief synopsis, the main character is taken on an eschatological bus ride, during which he meets many fellow travelers, each of whom carries a perpetual cloud of cantankerousness over themselves. The bus departs from a land of dreary grays and eventually arrives at what is basically the Microsoft Windows wallpaper--rolling hills, green fields, blue skies--rich colors and lush scenery all around. Despite the improvement in their surroundings, his fellow travelers continue to find things to complain about. In fact, their bodies cannot physically adjust to the beauty of their new surroundings. While wandering through the greenery they discover that they are, in fact, ghosts who lack corporeal bodies. They cannot acclimate to the weightiness, the substantiveness of this new rea...
But when that Call does come, there's no turning back, or even *wanting* to turn back.
ReplyDeleteAnd how wonderful is that??!!
Mom