C S

A Grief Observed

5 stars (Excellent!!) - Shipping was quick, everything was exactly as advertised! Two thumbs up, five stars, all of the above!!! 5 stars (Recorded Grief) - C.S. Lewis can almost be described as a contradiction. For much of his life, he was an agnostic, eventually coming to accept Christianity not through any miraculous transformation, but through rational thinking. He was a confirmed bachelor, but wound up marrying late in life, to the American divorcee Joy Davidman, his perfect counterpart in almost every manner. His life was awakened by Joy's presence, but their brief marriage (just nearly four years) was terminated when Joy died of cancer. C.S. Lewis kept track of his thoughts and ramblings after this event in a series of notebooks that became " A Grief Observed ". " A Grief Observed " is at times almost too personal. Lewis leaves nothing hidden, allowing readers access to his anger and his questioning of God. He claims that these are not all his thoughts, merely 'one in a hundred', that he has recorded as he tries to sort through his sorrow and grief. He likens his pain to various metaphors, including that of an amputee who still feels the pain of the lost limb - for Lewis, his lost wife who was part of him. He finds that it is always easy to offer comfort to those who have lost loved ones, to even pray for them, when they are not our loved ones. He questions God at every turn, eventually finding his way back to faith, seeing this challenge as a test of his faith and love. "God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn't. In this trial He makes us occupy the dock, the witness box, and the bench all at once. He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down." " A Grief Observed " is a short book, under one hundred pages, filled out with an afterword that is a brief biographical sketch on Lewis ...
HarperSanFrancisco :: Religion & General :: Religion & Christian Life :: Lewis :: C S :: CHRISTIAN LIVING PRACTICAL LIFE GRIEF :: SUFFERING :: CONSOLATION :: Religious aspects :: Religion :: A Grief Observed