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Thursday, July 18, 2013

half-hearted creatures, fooling about

It is a great joy and a privilege to have the opportunity to study. As I have mentioned before, I am not a natural student. It is tough work to have to read in a disciplined way, to write papers, and to have to pass exams.  But the rewards are great. Often there is a set text that needs to be read before class, and this one text leads me to others and I get wonderfully sidetracked.  All part of the pleasure.

Yesterday it was a chance conversation with a fellow student that let me to recall C.S. Lewis' sermon: "The Weight of Glory." I used this quote in a posting last year. How is this for a good description of weak human motivations getting in the way of real living:
"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased".

You can read the complete text of the sermon at this link.

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