C.S. Lewis wrote almost a whole book about prayer
by Richard Long,
My favourite writer is C.S.Lewis, or “Jack” as he was called by all his friends. So I was delighted to find a new biography about him on sale in a book store recently. This bio shows a whole other side to this great Christian intellectual as it is written by his step-son Douglas Gresham. He writes about the man he knew from a domestic position. It is a very warm hearted account and brings to life C.S.Lewis’ personality. It also explains where a lot of the Narnian characters came from in the people who lived around their home at “The Kilns.”
What especially struck me was the description of how the trench warfare of World War 1 powerfully affected both Jack and his brother Warnie. Those of you who have read the radio talks from the second World War will know that C.S.Lewis had a special affinity for encouraging the troops and eventually the whole British population during those very difficult years.
Did you know that C.S.Lewis wrote almost a whole book about prayer? It’s titled “Letter to Malcom: Chiefly on Prayer”. Here’s some of his common sense advice about how to keep up a life of prayer even when you are very busy …
“My own plan, when hard pressed, is to seize any time, and place, however unsuitable, in preference to the last waking moment. On a day of travelling – with, perhaps, some ghastly meeting at the end of it – I’d rather pray sitting in a crowded train than put if off till midnight when one reaches a hotel bedroom with an aching head and dry throat and one’s mind partly in a stupor and partly in a whirl. On other, and slightly less crowded days, a bench in a park, or a back street where one can pace up and down will do.”
