"And that, by the way, is perhaps the most important difference between Christianity and all other religions: that in Christianity God is not a static thing-not even a person-but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance."
"And now, what does it all matter? It matters more than anything in the world. The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three Personal life is to be played out in each one of us: or (putting it the other way around) each one of us has got to enter that pattern, take his place in that dance. There is no other way to the happiness for which we were made. Good things as well as bad, you know, are caught by a kind of infection. If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if He chose, just hand out to anyone. They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very centre of reality. If you are close to it, the spray will wet you: if you are not, you will remain dry. Once a man is united to God how could he not live forever? Once a man is separated from God, what can he do but wither and die?" CS LEWIS, Mere Christianity
The past year or so I have felt like I have been withering. And all of my own accord, I have to admit. It is I who needs to walk into the spray of the fountain. I found a letter I wrote to myself several years ago, 6 things to never forget. It reminded me of time when I was so close to the Heat source I was on FIRE. And yet close to the Fountain I was dripping wet. I guess Amy Grant knew what she was talking about when she sang about not always being able to be on the mountain top. I used to sit in my room with my 8 track player and sing along with her at the top of my lungs not having a clue really what she was saying.
It is a conscious decision to move closer. A crisis point that seems to come repeatedly in our lives as we forget sometimes what it takes to maintain a relationship with Him, or what it feels like to be moved by Him. Or what it's like when things are done in His power instead of our own. We read about the Israelites in the Wilderness and see and how quickly they forget. I saw Prince Caspian and saw how quickly the children dismissed their history with Aslan. We see such things and have a tendency to say what are they THINKING?? And yet I do the same thing over and over in my life. I couldn't even love Him if He didn't love me first. I couldn't even desire to know Him unless he placed it in my heart. The desire is definitely there, but is the discipline? There has to be a willingness to turn off the TV or the radio and listen for Him, communicate with Him. I have been trying to take advantage of those moments again, attempting to get close enough to the Source of everything I long to know and desire to be. I can feel Him blessing my efforts when I take those steps, when I willingly move into the dance...
