Screwtape Letters: Our Perception of "Our" Time

A couple months back, I read through C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters, and found it extremely thought-provoking. For the sake of time, I'm not going to write a long explanation of everything, but will share a couple of paragraphs and then some Scriptures that go along with it. It has really served to remind me that my time is not my own, that it is instead God's time given to me as a gift. I need to be a good steward of this gift and honor the Giver by using His time carefully. 

You  must therefore zealously guard in his mind the curious assumption "My time is my own." Let him have the feeling that he starts each day as the lawful possessor of twenty-four hours. Let him feel as a grievous tax that portion f his property which he has to make over to his employers, and as a generous donation that further portion which he allows to religious duties. But what he must never be permitted to doubt is that the total from which these deductions have been made was, in some mysterious sense, his own personal birthright.
You have here a delicate task. The assumption which you want him to go on making is so absurd that, if once it is questioned, even we cannot find a shred of argument in its defense. The man can neither make, nor retain, one moment of time; it all comes to him by pure gift; he might well regard the sun and moon as his chattels.

C.S. Lewis, The Illustrated Screwtape Letters 26-27 (Enhanced ed. 2011). 

"Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." Colossians 4:5-6 (English Standard).

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Colossians 3:17 (English Standard).

"Do nothing from selfish abmition or conceit, but in humility count others as more significant than yourselves." Philippians 2:3 (English Standard). 

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me--practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."

 Philippians 4:8-9 (English Standard)

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

James 4:13-17 (English Standard)

Okay, I must conclude this post as I need to leave to do other things (hopefully using my time in a God-honoring way!). Hopefully the above makes sense...Oh, for grace to know, trust, and serve Christ more!

Hold fast to Jesus!

Sonia

August Anamnesis

I just learned the word "anamnesis," and am not sure if the context is quite right for the title of this post, but I liked how it started with an A like "August." So, there you go (loose reference to My Big Fat Greek Wedding there). 

August and September have flown by, and I have failed to meet my New Year's non-resolution hope to post at least once a month. Oh well, the busyness inhibiting my ability to post was entirely worth it. Below are a few pictures from the month of August, although many, many other events took place. It was a month full of fellowship, hiking, making new friends and building stronger relationships with current friends, ministry, and sunshine. I told myself that after I graduated from Liberty I would focus more on serving at church and building deeper relationships with fellow church members, and God has hugely blessed that desire. 

Sweet Pea and I also started learning Russian (I may have mentioned that in a prior post). Pollywog is already very good at the language, and Mozarella and Gubby are also learning it -- Sweet Pea, Pollywog, and I started attending an "adult Russian school" hosted by our church. I'm so excited to learn more about this beautiful language!

 In early August, Sweet Pea (17), Polly Wog (21), and Mozzarella (19) went hiking with two co-workers from the law firm where Mozzarella and I work. It is such a blessing to work with fellow believers who can be friends as well as co-workers!

 Group photo!

 Have you ever been to a beautiful place and just wanted to sit and reflect? 

 We had the opportunity to attend a Franklin Graham event, and while I'm not sure just how I felt about the event, it was a neat experience, and the Gospel of Christ was shared.

 Baby Lucy is growing so fast! This picture is only about a month old, and yet she has grown so much since this picture! She is a little chunk with an adorable smile! 

 Building relationships with people from church is a tremendous blessing, but maintaining relationships with dear childhood friends is also incredible. These ladies have been with me through thick and thin, and I wouldn't trade them for the world. Even though we're all growing up and heading in different directions, we still find time to get together to catch up and share about our lives. 

 I was so thankful to be able to go water-skiing twice this summer! It's so exciting to finally start getting the hang of it and being able to go in and out of the wake and, when tired, just let go of the rope and gracefully sink into the water. 

This last time we went water-skiing, the lake was extremely calm. Seriously, my head wasn't even entirely wet after I got back in the boat.

Story: So, I struggle with a slight fear of the water and thinking about fish in the water kind of freaks me out. Like, if  I see a big fish I probably won't get in. Anyway, when I was skiing behind the boat this last time (picture of this time above), we were going by a whole herd of fishing boats. It was hilarious, and kind of ironic. I was praying 1) that I wouldn't see anyone pull a big one in and 2) that I wouldn't wipe out and disturb their water. Thankfully, neither happened. 

Pollywog, Munchette, and Sweet Pea are much better water-skiers than I am, and watching them zip in and out of the wake and do cool moves is pretty incredible.

 (gracefully sinking into the water -- this is not a wipe out) 

 Pollywog. She is incredible. She loves the Lord, is super good at learning/speaking Russian, and is doing an incredible job in nursing school. 

 We were blessed with the opportunity to hike at an incredible mountain with some people from church! It was the most beautiful hike I have ever been on. God's glory was so, so evident.

 Cowboy and Baby Lucy!

 In late August, Mozzarella and I had the opportunity to be camp counselors at our church's middle- and high-school ministry camp. I won't post too many pictures out of respect for others' privacy, but it was an incredibly challening and blessed time. One of the girls in my cabin took this picture; spending time with her was such a blessing -- we were able to share our struggles, joys, and about our families.

Massage train!

My group was the "blue" cabin, and this is a picture of our door, with a light blue bandanna outside the door to aid in spotting the cabin.