“When we lose one blessing, another is often, most unexpectedly, given in its place.” ~ C.S. Lewis
After seeing the off-Broadway show Freud’s Last Session, a possibly close-to-true meeting between Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis at the start of World War II less than a month before Freud’s self-prescribed passing, I’ve been seeing C.S. Lewis everywhere. Not literally of course, he passed in 1963, but in quotes, in the advertisements of movies and theatrical productions based on his books, as the topics of numerous blog posts. So many authors are known for being brooding figures, dark and sometimes troubled individuals. One of the things I love about C.S. Lewis is his true belief in joy and his long journey to find it. His own autobiography is entitled Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life.
In this season of counting our blessings, I came across Lewis’s quote above. I’ve seen lots of quote on how to turn lemons into lemonade and the like. This quote is different – it recognizes that we may lose people and things we love and cherish, that we will be disappointed not by not getting what we want, but by getting what we want, exactly what we want, and then grappling with it slipping through our fingers. Lewis counsels us to hang on, to keep searching, to believe that even in the hour of our grief another happiness is just beyond our doorstep.
I like the sentiment and today, on a rainy, gray Sunday, I’m celebrating it. It keeps me believing that life is always full of surprises and that we should constantly be prepared to be delighted.
The image above is not my own. It can be found here. I have no idea where this place is but I believe that in a place so beautiful it must be overrun with unexpected blessings.
Christa Avampato 