Reflections on Heaven

I decided to write my blog on the last chapter of The Problem of Pain. I am going to make some comments on some things that stuck out to me.

"You may have noticed that the books you really love are bound together by a secret thread. You know very well what is the common quality that makes you love them, though you cannot put it into words, but most of your friends do not see it at all..."

I can really relate here and I think a majority of our class might as well. If I think of all the books or stories we love...I can really see that they are bound together by a secret thread. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, the Matrix: these are my favorite stories. I can see that each of them possesses a common quality that I look for and love in stories. Heroes, swordfights, training, good vs. evil, saving the princess, love, adventure, and self-sacrifice. All these things tug at my heart and fulfill some longing inside of me.

"Are not all lifelong friendships born at the moment when at last you meet another human being who has some inkling of that something which you were born desiring..."

I think this statement gives us a clue into why we have close relationships in life and what causes these relationships to form. It is beautiful how God fulfills our desires by sometimes giving us other persons who share our desires and we can fulfill those desires together through God. There is much else to say about this I just felt like this really helped me to understand why I desire certain things in life and it was enlightening.

"We cannot tell each other about it. It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want..."

I really liked the parts of the chapter that talked about the soul and the uniqueness of the soul. This part related to me because I have felt this unfulfilled longing all my life and I think the key to the individuality of my soul lies there in that unfulfilled longing. It is something that I cannot communicate and if i tried to communicate it I could only voice it to God. Most of the time its just a groaning sound. Like "God heal me" or "God save me". And in those moments I have come to know my soul and know that my first love is God and he loves me. There is a lot I could say but I just thank God that there are writers like C.S Lewis who were good enough to explain these christian ideas in a way that the common man can understand.

"...a soul is but a hollow which God fills..."

This simple quote really showed me why I feel like crap when my relationship with God isnt going swell. You may have heard a depressed person say "I feel so empty". I know that I have felt this emptiness before in my life. I am thinking that I felt so empty because the God who is supposed to fill me up isnt there. There is an actually emptiness. I thought that was interesting to think about. It seems simple yet its profound.


So that about sums up my thoughts on the Heaven chapter. And I am looking forward to heaven!!! This place sucks!!!