C.S. Lewis on Time

"The Screwtape Letters," by C.S. Lewis, has some thoughts on the subject of time that I found to be helpful and encouraging. These have to do with comparisons of eternity to the past, present, and future.

The Present: What God would have us focus on most. This is the "point at which time touches eternity."

The Past: Can be a distraction. We certainly tend to dwell on the repurcussions of our own pasts, don't we? Depending on your view of God's influence on the future, you might say that the past resembles eternity in that it is already determined.

The Future: Perhaps what God would least like us to dwell on. According to the demon Screwtape, "the future is the era of time least like eternity." And earlier: "It is unknown to them. By making them think about it, we make them think of unrealities."

This was helpful to me because my problem of late has been too much dwelling on, or maybe I should say dreading, the future. I worry about a future that I have no way of predicting. God wants me to dwell much more on today.

Lewis is not suggesting that God doesn't want us to care about the future, by the way. Screwtape says that God "wants them to think about it only as much as is necessary for planning the acts of justice or charity which will be their duty tomorrow."

Comments

[Paula]

Funny, I just read something from Screwtape Letters tonight. I'll quote because it was so good. "Remember, always, that He really likes the little vermin, and sets an absurd value on the distinctness of every one of them. When He talks of them losing theirselves, He means only the abandoning the clamor of self-will; once they have done that, He really gives them back all their personality, and boasts that when they are wholly His they will be more themselves than ever."

I think this relates to your thoughts in that we sometimes get lost worrying about the future because of that whole self-will thing. We think we know what we want and how we want it done and we listen to a clamour that steals our peace and keep us from being set free not to just live in the now, but to also live in and enjoy our best passions and pursuits.