Perelandra

I woke around 3:30 this morning unable to go back to sleep. Lying there in the dark, trying to relax enough to re-enter dreamland, I couldn't turn my mind off. Once I was awake enough to think clearly, it hit me to go hunting for a book given to me around my 40th birthday by a precious friend with a rare soul. We were preparing to move to Northern Virginia in those months, so this book was likely laid in a box almost as soon as I got it home. I've been missing her lately-- missing that compatible/compassionate spirit, missing the near-weekly meetings at the Barnes & Noble coffee shop, missing those lively and sweet discussions on our Bible study, current reads, families, and relationships. Pulling out her gift felt like pulling her close again.

The book she gifted is a mostly-abridged compilation of the works of C.S. Lewis called The Essential C.S. Lewis. Because I own many of the complete books included here already, I haven't really opened this book much except to scan through it. It would likely be a great, non-committal introduction to anyone interested in tiptoeing into Lewis' work. More than almost anything, I enjoy reading his letters... a place where I feel I can, without the ability to actually meet the man himself, know his heart more completely and delve into the intention behind his writing.  This book includes some of those too!

Last summer, on a recommendation from a couple in our home group at church, I read Lewis' Space Trilogy. I borrowed the books from them and returned them just before they moved. Something about theology combined with pseudo-science and good fiction really speaks to me. Hmmm... what does that say about me? 😂 Lewis writes in such sweeping, overarching, epic themes and yet, in other works, writes with straight forward common sense regarding God and Scripture... almost "in your face"... and in my own opinion, another very relatable/enjoyable style.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the entire Space Trilogy, Perelandra was the stand-out favorite. In fact, it may be in there with my short list of all-time favorite books. It can be read as a stand-alone, however, I think you lose some of the depth and meaning if you don't read the books on either end. This is the book I woke this morning hoping to find in its entirety within The Essential C.S. Lewis. Thankfully, it is there and it is complete. It's been slightly over a year since I read it, and I feel a compelling need to read it again.

"Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." ~Matthew 18:3 NASB

Lying awake in the pre-dawn stillness, I tried to wrap my mind around what it is that draws me to this particular work of fiction. It may be the "what if" quality of the subject matter. It may be that it paints such a lovely landscape of what living in a sinless Eden must have been like for Adam and Eve. But mostly, I think it just appeals to the child in me... and another child... the child I must become if I'm to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Aside from the person of Jesus Christ within Scripture, no where else have I encountered the childlike attitude of a true believer in adult form, and it is something I find I desperately need... something I have a strong, innate desire to mimic.  

While I doubt I'll drop everything else (My book bag is full again with a whole bunch of partially-read material that will likely take eons to finish. 😑), I will be revisiting this and reminding myself that Christ made a way for us all to live in child-like faith. I'll get a chance to be reminded of all those incredible attributes that accompany the One who is sovereign over all our moments... such an easy thing to receive within the pages of Perelandra.