I’m joining up at Amongst Lovely Things again for the weekly dose of Chesterton.
This week I started listening to Orthodoxy on audio. I found a lot of food for thought, and have decided not to quote all the quotable things I came across – it might amount to reprinting most of the first few chapters (what I’ve read so far) here…
Last week I found myself musing on how letting go of the illusion of control is such an important part of life – I’m in control of only a very small set of things, and accepting that will bring more peace than trying to trick myself into thinking that I can control more things. So then I came across this Chestertonian gem – addressed to a madman who actually thought he was our Lord:
“So you are the Creator and the Redeemer of the world: but what a small world it must be! What a little heaven you must inhabit, with angels no bigger than butterflies! How sad it must be to be God, and an inadequate God! Is there really no life fuller and no love more marvellous than yours; and is it really in your small and painful pity that all flesh must put its faith?”
--G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
I’m not, thank God, under the impression that I’m Jesus Christ returned. But boy do those words hit home for me when I catch myself wanting to control everything. I haven’t thought I should be put in charge of everything for many years – I’ve learned a bit too much about my faults! ;) But I do think I know better in many situations. This quote really puts some perspective on it.
5 comments:
What a quote! And my goodness, my life would be so small and pathetic if I really was allowed to run it just the way I thought best through the years...
It really is pathetic when we really see the futility of our efforts to control things. Great quote.
Great quote! I'm guilty of trying to control everything as well, so I could really use the reminder.
Wonderful quote -reminds me of decades ago when I was spread pretty thin, but worrying about things that would be left undone if I didn't do them. A friend said, "You're not the Savior!" and I thought, "Duh. When you put it that way...I see that what I really need to do is ask HIM to undertake."
Thank you for sharing!
I was crazy sick this weekend- hit hard with a stomach virus that rendered me pretty useless. Imagine my surprise that the world kept turning even while I wasn't tending to it! I love those illusions of control, it's just a wonder that it takes so much to convince me that they are most definitely illusions.
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