Clear, direct, literal, objective.

When the stresses of life leave us feeling unsure and unbalanced, we can find ourselves wishing that things fit more precisely into the above four categories. Yet such a life would be flat and devoid of color or texture. After a time, our souls would feel empty and as rigid as hard wood. Thankfully, that is not the life God has given us. Instead, God has graced us with a life that is richly patterned, and deeper than our minds can fully comprehend. We are able to take one thing that seems clear, direct, literal, and objective, and suddenly find in it images and insights that help us see it and ourselves in a completely new way.

The journaling questions below are designed to help you explore those more hidden depths, by taking images from the writings of C.S. Lewis and discovering in them deeper truth—truth about ourselves, the world, and God. As you write, you will find yourself responding first to the more objective truth; return to the question as often as you can during the week and continue writing until you have dropped into another layer of understanding—one you had not seen before. When you have explored the question deeply, take an image from your writing with you to be your companion throughout the day.

Something of God...flows into us from the blue of the sky, the taste of honey, the delicious embrace of water whether cold or hot, and even from sleep itself.
—“Scraps,” St. James' Magazine

Where does God unexpectedly flow into me and how do I know it’s God?

 

And then she understood the devilish cunning of the enemies' plan. By mixing a little truth with it they had made their lie far stronger. —The Last Battle

Where do lies and truth meet in my life?

Sleeping on a dragon's hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart, he had become a dragon himself. —The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
 

Who am I becoming?

 

Then instantly the pale brightness of the mist and the fiery brightness of the Lion rolled themselves together into a swirling glory and gathered themselves up and disappeared.
—The Horse and His Boy

How can I claim the glory in my life before it disappears?

Pure, spiritual, intellectual love shot from their faces like barbed lightning. It was so unlike the love we experience that its expression could easily be mistaken for ferocity.
—Perelandra

Where does the love from heaven seem so intense in my life that it feels fierce?

"You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you," said the Lion. —The Silver Chair

 

Who is calling my name?

It was when I was happiest that I longed most...The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing...to find the place where all the beauty came from.
—Till We Have Faces

For what am I longing?

 

In the midst of a world of light and love, of song and feast and dance, [Lucifer] could find nothing to think of more interesting than his own prestige.
—A Preface to Paradise Lost

When does my self-importance hide me from truth?