Perelandra
by C.S. Lewis
Book number 2 in the Sci-Fi trilogy by Lewis was one that took me a little more push for me to get through. At times it was very wordy but it did bring up some great thinking points.
In this book Ransom is whisked away to Venus or Perelandra. He sent for an unknown mission. After much exploration he comes face to face with evil and must do what he can to protect the innocence of this new planet and it’s inhabitants. It was almost like reading the creation story and the fall of man story again only with an interesting twist. How much simpler things could be if we could get back to that state of innocence we had before the fall. One day we will have that clean slate. I await that day.
Below are some quotes I found myself dwelling on as I read:
In the beginning as Ransom is explaining his upcoming mission to a friend he says, “Don’t imagine I’ve been selected to go to Perelandra because I’m anyone in particular. One never can see, or not til long afterwards, why any one was selected for any job. And when one does, it is usually some reason that leaves no room for vanity. Certainly, it is never for what the man himself would have regarded as his chief qualifications.”
I thought this was an excellent quote in regards to how God deals with us. How many times God uses us in unexpected ways so He gets all the glory! He certainly did it in the bible and still does today. It’s not because of who we are that He uses us, but because of who He is. As the Lord says to Paul and to all of us in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “ My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
“There are jobs, you know, where it is essential that one should not know too much beforehand...things one might have to say which one couldn’t say effectively if one had prepared them.”
This was a great reminder as to why its probably better that we don’t know all of God’s plans ahead of time. It helps us depend on him and trust him more, and isn’t that probably the idea anyway. Sometimes, that’s a hard one to swallow. I would like to be the more prepared type.
This next quote is a conversation between ransom and the Queen of the Island. Remember that it is an island untouched by evil at this point.
“What you have made me see”, answered the lady, “is as plain as the sky, but I never saw it before. Yet it has happened every day. One goes into the forest to pick food and already the thought of one fruit rather than another has grown up in one’s mind. Then, it may be, one finds a different fruit and not the fruit one thought of. One joy was expected and another is give. But this I had never noticed before - that the very moment of the finding there is in the mind a kind of thrusting back, or setting aside. The picture of the fruit you have not found is still, for a moment before you. And if you wished - if it were possible to wish - you could keep it there. You could send your soul after the good you had expected, instead of turning it to the good you had got. You could refuse the real good; you could make the real fruit taste insipid by thinking of the other.”
How completely profound is that! God is good. Even though our world is evil and bad things happen we can trust that God is in control and will never leave us for a moment. So really isn’t everything that comes our way good? Or at least, will turn out for good as God promises. So instead of wishing for the “good” we desire. We should be thankful for the “good” we receive. What a great definition of contentment or rather discontentment. We can make what we have seem less by dwelling on what we don’t have. I like it.
So 2 books down, 1 to go. Like I said earlier, it was a little harder to get through this book but I think it was worth the trek for the gems of wisdom and understanding that I was able to explore. Onward....
