This quote is taken from the last U.S. Senate prayer Peter Marshall wrote as chaplain before he died at age 46 in January 1949:
“Deliver us, our Father, from futile hopes and from clinging to lost causes, that we may move into ever-growing calm and ever-widening horizons. Where we cannot convince, let us be willing to persuade, for small deeds done are better than great deeds planned. We know that we cannot do everything. But help us to do something. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.”
I love these words from C. S. Lewis on how heartbreak can be something God uses to bring you nearer to Him. That sure was true for me.
“We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as the way in which they should break, so be it.
As we look at the relationships in our own lives we might ask the following questions. Am I holding back my love toward God and others out of the fear of being wounded in the fray? If so, am I willing to begin to trust God with my life and open up the gateways to my heart so that I can both give and receive love as God intended me to do?” (from “The Risk of Love,” The Four Loves, C. S. Lewis)
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:18-19 (ESV)
“There is no excess of goodness. You cannot go too far in the right direction.”
Have you read the first published work by C. S. Lewis after he converted to Christianity? I had never heard of The Pilgrim’s Regress until I discovered this quote, which I love. Written in 1933, Lewis describes his allegorical fiction novel as “a kind of Bunyan up to date.” I might just give it a read.
Darla McDavid 