Posting Into the Void
A Letter on Prayer
With our focus on Lewis’s letters this month I have been re-reading Yours,Jack. This intimate collection of C.S. Lewis’s letters reveal a charming and deeply personal side of the celebrated author. This early letter from Lewis to his brother Warnie caught my attention:
At surface level this letter showcases Lewis’s playful wit and love for his brother. But what struck me most was Lewis’s reference to God during this period of time where he considered himself an atheist. Though God isn’t central in his life at this moment, there’s a sense of divine influence orbiting him—subtle but persistent.
When this letter was written in 1921, Lewis was a young man who had endured the trauma of World War I and had published his first work, Spirits in Bondage, a collection of poetry. It would be years before Lewis would fully commit to Christianity, but moments like this letter reveal spiritual seeds quietly taking root.
It raises an intriguing question: when do you think Lewis began his road “to Edinburgh to find out”? And what about your own spiritual path? What were pivotal moments for you?
Lewis’s letters remind us that our journeys are not often straightforward, but rather, unfold one step at a time.
Image from: Lewis, C.S. “1921”. Yours, Jack, HarperOne, New York, NY, 2008
It would seem Lewis finds the answer to his worry later in life. He writes in Letters to Malcom, “Our struggle is, isn't it? —to achieve and retain faith on a lower level. To believe that, whether He can grant them or not, God will listen to our prayers, will take them into account. Even to go on believing that there is a Listener ar all.” Lewis comes to understand that our faith isn’t that our prayers will be answered, but that they will be heard. No small miracle itself.
Great use of an extended metaphor to stimulate thought!