Why hello,
It's been a while since the last post, yes? Sept. 8th...of 2007. Hmm, at that time I was just beginning my first semester at Bryan College. Now it's four months and three days since then and I'm gearing up for my second semester of school and falling back in love with writing. With that, I hereby enter the latest blog that is vastly over due:
So I've once again opened Mere Christianity written by the brilliant C.S. Lewis. I admit that I have attempted to read this book two or three times only to stop on the third chapter and put the book away for a couple months. This time however I have reached page 94. So, while I'm in the middle of reading the book I have something to say about it.
The chapters that have hit hardest is the chapters that are focused on morality. I'm have the book open to page 75 at the moment and review "the three parts of morality", which are: "relations between man and man, things inside each man and relations between man and (God)." The idea of these three moralities are important, I think, so that we understand that our moralities not only affect how we live if we were to be alone in the world but also how we act towards another human-being and also how we act (and our attitude) towards God. Lewis does a tremendous job not only in this chapter but in the whole part of the book I've read thus far in saying that morality is not something that each person creates brand new for themselves but rather we all share the same basic ideas of what is right and wrong.
The very next chapter is one on "The 'Cardinal Virtues'. I'll be honest, I saw 'cardinal virtues' and thought that Lewis would press upon the reader a set of values or whatnot that are held in highesteem by the Catholic church. Though this is not the case! He lists four virtues and give details to each. The first being "prudence". Quite simply, Lewis says that "prudence means practical common sense, taking the trouble to think out what you are doing and what is likely to come of it." (p. 77)
COMMON SENSE!
How many times have I exclaimed in my living room here at home that something I see someone do on tv doesn't make sense! That the person has no grip on what common sense tells a person to do. I admit that I am not the most logical person at times but I do try my hardest to use the common sense that God has given me so that I don't make a mistake when the correct choice is so blatant! And sometimes it's not so blatant. In this case I believe that just because something is not out in the open to you doesn't mean that someone with a slightly different point of view won't see the clear choice that needs to be made.
To disect the sentence I quoted, another important part of prudence is thinking about the out come of a descion. How many times do we think about what the outcome of a choice will be? How long do we spend making a choice, thinking over it, pouring over it, praying about it? I fear for myself not near long enough. I want to glorify God with every aspect of my life...am I doing that with every choice I make? Not just the big ones or the ones that people can see but also the ones I make in the quiet? In the darkness of my room? Are we as followers of Christ? Sometimes I think not.
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