Skinny Link

C. S. Lewis

From "The Weight of Glory":

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship . . . or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.

All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with . . . awe and circumspection . . . that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.

I really want to be the kind of person who reaches out to

"lift the hands that hang down."

But sometimes it's hard.

Sometimes . . .

those "hands' try to push me away

Sometimes, they even lash out at me and

I get hurt

and offended

and I want to hurt back.

I feel self-righteous and want to

condemn, ridicule,

snub or turn away.

It's these times when I have to take a deep look at my heart

and prayerfully ask

How committed am I to

Love

and LIFT

especially

when hands hang down?

Immortal horrors?

or

Eternal splendors?

For my fellow immortals

and for myself . . .

the choice is mine.