In concluding my thoughts on Lewis’s March 19, 1955 letter to Mary Van Deusen I come to his words:
I am so glad that you are finding (as I do) that life, far from getting dull and empty as one grows older, opens out. It is like being in a house where one keeps on discovering new rooms.
Treasuring friendships, drawing on experience, looking forward to the real Narnia as opposed to these Shadowlands, anticipating reunion with loved ones; a deepening sense of the Father, the Lamb, and the Holy Spirit; a truer appreciation of their mercies, and an ever unfolding discovering of new rooms – this is the season of life I am in and so I resonate with Lewis’s testimony. What Lewis did not know as he wrote this letter is that he had yet to enter one wing of the house with many rooms; the wing of marriage with rooms containing joy/Joy and pain and A Grief Observed.
I find as I grow older that I see the world system more clearly for what it is and that I am more aware of my vanities. I also find that while I see more of the infiltration of the world in the professing church that I am more patient with the people who have bought into it while at the same time seeking not to imbibe the toxicity. Of course, I have to smile and realize that I have often served tainted fare myself and that I no doubt have foreign particles yet within my own heart, soul, and mind. I am sure that it is only when I cross that river that I’ll know complete cleansing – and then my focus won’t be myself in any event, it will be the Lamb and others. The new heaven and the new earth that I most look forward to at times are my own mind and temple – oh for the day when corruption will be swallowed up with life.
To be continued…
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