C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

TO MARY WILLIS SHELBURNE: On the return of Joy’s cancer.

18 October 1959

Will you redouble your prayers for us? Apparently the wonderful recovery Joy made in 1957 was only a reprieve, not a pardon. The last X Ray check reveals cancerous spots returning in many of her bones. There seems to be some hope of a few years life still and there are still things the doctors can do. But they are all in the nature of ‘rearguard actions’. We are in retreat. The tide has turned. Of course God can do again what He did before. The sky is not now so dark as it was when I married her in hospital. Her courage is wonderful and she gives me more support than I can give her. The dreadful thing, as you know, is the waking each morning—the moment at which it all flows back on one.

• From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis
• Compiled in Yours, Jack

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook: May 21, 2015

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO (continued) - Thunder pounded. Lightning flashed. The heavens opened wide. Packed into a Toyota Land Cruiser, we made our desperate flight from Kaniema, a border town in Katanga near East Kasai. The rains meant destruction of the road; time was short. While all of us were enjoying fellowship and the thrill of coursing along Congo’s treacherous roads, Pastor Mukenge sat silent. The rains signaled our mission would be cut short. Our visit to the adjacent region of Kanyintshina would be postponed. Our friend looked like a boy on the verge of tears. I found myself fixated on his downcast spirit ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

In the News ... "Caywood plans expansion of OCFC"

OA Photo by Courtney Sacco

• Will double the floor space to 100,000 square feet

By Bob Campbell, Reporter
Odessa American

ODESSA, TEXAS - Planning a new $20 million-plus church just north of the one he opened almost 32 years ago, the Rev. Don Caywood is proud of the progress Odessa Christian Faith Center has made, but he feels its future is much brighter than its past.

Noting an average of 1,300 people attend its three Sunday services at 8860 N. Andrews Highway, Caywood foresees that number growing to 5,000 when the seating capacity goes from 825 to 2,000 ...

• read the rest of this OA report ...

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

This time Jill and Eustace walked together. They had been feeling very brave when they were begging to be allowed to come with the others, but now they didn’t feel brave at all.

“Pole,” said Eustace in a whisper. “I may as well tell you I’ve got the wind up.”

“Oh, you’re all right, Scrubb,” said Jill. “You can fight. But I—I’m just shaking, if you want to know the truth.”

“Oh, shaking’s nothing,” said Eustace. “I’m feeling I’m going to be sick. . . .

“Pole,” said Eustace presently.

“What?” said she.

“What’ll happen if we get killed here?”

“Well we’ll be dead, I suppose.”

“But I mean, what will happen in our own world? Shall we wake up and find ourselves back in that train? Or shall we just vanish and never be heard of any more? Or shall we be dead in England?”

“Gosh. I never thought of that.”

“It’ll be rum for Peter and the others if they saw me waving out of the window and then when the train comes in we’re nowhere to be found! Or if they found two—I mean, if we’re dead over there in England.”

“Ugh!” said Jill. “What a horrid idea.”

“It wouldn’t be horrid for us,” said Eustace. “We shouldn’t be there.”

“I almost wish—no I don’t, though,” said Jill.

“What were you going to say?”

“I was going to say I wished we’d never come. But I don’t, I don’t, I don’t. Even if we are killed. I’d rather be killed fighting for Narnia than grow old and stupid at home and perhaps go about in a bath-chair and then die in the end just the same.”

• From The Last Battle
• Compiled in A Year with Aslan

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook: May 20, 2015

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONMO - Ordained Presbyterian pastor  Berthe “Maman” Nzeba coordinates the Women and Families Desk of the Church of Christ in Congo (ECC). Under her leadership, women from over 60 denominations federated under the ECC are united to address sexual violence against women and children in conflict-ridden eastern Congo. Since the influx of refugees following the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda, the area regularly suffers violent attacks by roaming militia, which are funded by revenues from mines they control. Rape has proliferated from a barbaric war tactic into an epidemic social ill. Maman Nzeba accompanies local women’s groups who offer sanctuary to rape survivors and ensure that they receive full medical attention ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

Teichert Prayer Letter for May

The family of Karl and Jenny Teichert are serving the Lord as missionaries with OC Africa, in South Africa. They moved to Johannesburg in November, 1997 with their four children; Ann, Scott, Stephen and John. Karl serves as the Southern Africa Director of the Southern Africa Regional Team. Their vision is to see a healthy, Bible-based church established in every unreached village and community in South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Zambia and beyond. Their strategy is to partner with key African church leaders to research, train, and mobilize the body of Christ to complete the Great Commission. They are striving to equip local leaders in Southern Africa to reach their nations for Christ and send missionaries into other countries as well.

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May 2015 ... God is Enlarging our Tent!

“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.” Isaiah 54:2-3

Dear family and friends,

It’s hard to believe that we have been serving as missionaries with One Challenge in Southern Africa for almost 18 years. Three of our children have left home and John graduates from high school this year. Our team has trained and mentored hundreds of African leaders to grow thousands of churches across Southern Africa. Thank you for your faithful partnership in this mission journey!

Building on this foundation, the One Challenge leadership has asked Karl to serve as the OC Africa area director beginning March 31, 2015. Karl will continue serving as the Southern Africa fi eld director until a new leader is selected. We will continue to live in Johannesburg, South Africa and stay connected with our Southern Africa OC team. Barbosa Oliveira, the previous Africa area director is relocating to Florida early next year to serve with a new OC ministry assisting churches to reach out to Latinos in that region. Please pray for Barbosa’s family in this transition.

The scope of this new Africa area director position is to extend the mission impact of One Challenge throughout Africa through new resident teams and strategic partnerships. Here are some thoughts from Karl’s new supervisor, Dick Grady who serves as the OC vice president of global ministries:

As we were looking for an area director for our African ministries, we needed a leader who embodies the organizational values that have allowed us to develop this legacy on the African continent. Karl Teichert is this man. Karl has lived out these values as the leader of the South Africa Regional Team. He has faithfully served African leaders in ways that have empowered them to disciple their nations. Karl is the only expat who serves on the South African Evangelical Alliance national executive. He is highly respected by African leaders throughout the southern cone of Africa. As Karl takes on this new challenge, we look forward to ever-expanding opportunities to come alongside African leaders throughout the continent for the sake of Christ’s kingdom.

Thank you for your continued partnership with the Teicherts.

We are humbled and encouraged by these kind words.

As Karl embarks on this new leadership responsibility, please pray for the following:

• Personal dependency and intimacy with God
• Wisdom to discern God’s open doors in Africa
• Balance between family and ministry responsibilities
• Selection and development of a new Southern Africa field director
• Raising of an additional $300/month for increased travel and ministry expenses

Thank you for your invaluable prayers and financial support for us through this transition. We are sincerely grateful for your friendship and commitment. We praise the Lord for you!

For His glory,

Karl and Jenny

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OC Africa is an interdenominational ministry committed to developing, equipping, and mobilizing church leaders to multiply healthy, Bible-based churches in every community in Southern Africa and the world. OC is a faith-based mission who depends on the Lord to provide committed, financial supporters and partners. The contributions from these individuals help generate ministry opportunities around the world, impact missionaries and their global work, and provide a means for the International Mobilization Center to function. CLICK HERE to learn how YOU can be a part of mobilizing church leaders around the world by donating to OC.

In the News ... "New Samaritan executive director returns to her roots, embraces nonprofit’s mission"

MRT Photo by Tim Fischer

• One of the nonprofit’s biggest goals is to expand its services

Steve Kuhlmann, Reporter
Midland Reporter-Telegram

MIDLAND, TEXAS - A veteran of nonprofit management, the Samaritan Counseling Center of West Texas’ new executive director Rissé Rogers is returning to her roots as she focuses on the nonprofit’s mission of promoting mental health through counseling services.

The Odessa resident said while she has a “background in psychology and family relations” — as well as personal, family experience with issues of mental health — it has been a while since she worked for a nonprofit specifically focusing on that area ...

 • read the rest of this MRT report ... 

 

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

On heaven

Redeemed humanity is still young, it has hardly come to its full strength. But already there is joy enough in the little finger of a great saint such as yonder lady to waken all the dead things of the universe into life.

Everything becomes more and more itself. Here is joy that cannot be shaken. Our light can swallow up your darkness; but your darkness cannot now infect our light. No, no, no. Come to us. We will not go to you. Can you really have thought that love and joy would always be at the mercy of frowns and sighs? Did you not know they were stronger than their opposites?.

• From The Great Divorce
• Compiled in Words to Live By

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook: May 19, 2015

KENYA - After the 2008 elections, violence erupted in Kenya, killing over 1,000 people and displacing more than 500,000. Nairobi Chapel immediately began ministering to displaced families, which included assisting with the educational needs of the children. That commitment has since grown into the Jubilee Scholarship Fund, which sponsors over 350 teenagers from economically challenged and HIV/AIDS-ravaged communities nearby to attend schools all over the country by providing tuition fees, uniforms, and school supplies ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

From ChinaAid: "China Aid presents 2015 Courage Award to Kansas Governor Sam Brownback"

The China Aid Association is a non-profit Christian organization - based in Midland, Texas - with a mission to uncover and reveal the truth about religious persecution in China, focusing especially on the unofficial church. They do this, they explain in their website, by exposing the abuses, encouraging the abused and equipping the saints to advance the kingdom of God throughout China.

ChinaAid Photo

China Aid presents 2015 Courage Award to Kansas Governor Sam Brownback
Distributed by ChinaAid, April, 2015 ...

MIDLAND, TEXAS – At China Aid’s 2015 Freedom and Justice Dinner, China Aid founder and President Bob Fu and China Aid Vice President Kody Kness presented the Courage Award to Kansas Governor Sam Brownback for his extraordinary record of advocating for human rights in China.

At the dinner Pastor Bob Fu, founder and president of China Aid, told attendees about China Aid’s mission to expose the abuses, encourage the abused and equip the leaders. Fu also discussed China Aid’s 2014 Persecution Report, which documented 572 persecution cases that were reported to China Aid.

Fu also recounted how then-Senator Brownback had played a providential role in his moving his family and China Aid to Midland after a meeting in the Senate with Brownback and the Midland Ministerial Alliance in 2004 ...

• more on this story from China Aid  

In the News: "52 Faces" Q&A with Greg Bartha

MRT Photo by James Durbin

"52 Faces of the Community" is a new, regular feature of the Midland Reporter-Telegram that is recognizing the unsung heroes and volunteers of Midland, Texas. The latest installment in this series offers a question-and-answer session with Dr. Gregory Bartha, longtime Midland physician and international medical missionary.

• read the rest of this MRT report

• visit the "52 Faces" index page

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

Lewis, grieving the death of his wife, Joy:

I know that the thing I want is exactly the thing I can never get. The old life, the jokes, the drinks, the arguments, the lovemaking, the tiny, heartbreaking commonplace. On any view whatever, to say, ‘H. is dead,’ is to say, ‘All that is gone.’ It is a part of the past. And the past is the past and that is what time means, and time itself is one more name for death, and Heaven itself is a state where ‘the former things have passed away.’

Talk to me about the truth of religion and I’ll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I’ll listen submissively. But don’t come talking to me about the consolations of religion or I shall suspect that you don’t understand.

Unless, of course, you can literally believe all that stuff about family reunions ‘on the further shore,’ pictured in entirely earthly terms. But that is all unscriptural, all out of bad hymns and lithographs. There’s not a word of it in the Bible. And it rings false. We know it couldn’t be like that. Reality never repeats. The exact same thing is never taken away and given back. How well the spiritualists bait their hook! ‘Things on this side are not so different after all.’ There are cigars in Heaven. For that is what we should all like. The happy past restored.

And that, just that, is what I cry out for, with mad, midnight endearments and entreaties spoken into the empty air.

• From A Grief Observed
• Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook: May 18, 2015

ETHIOPIA (continued) - W hen he was six, Teressa Akuma’s family experienced overwhelming tragedy. Both of his parents died, and his family was fractured. Homeless, this newly orphaned boy walked two days to a town where a relative had once lived but had since left. He begged for shelter and finally found work as a shepherd. A childless woman welcomed him as her son. “Great compassion filled my heart. She taught me about fearing God, humility, being kind to others—orally and by her actions. If there was little bread when guests came, she gave it to them” ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

TO DOROTHY L. SAYERS: On the deep lessons in love that Lewis was learning.

25 June 1957

I ought to tell you my own news. On examination it turned out that Joy’s previous marriage, made in her pre-Christian days, was no marriage: the man had a wife still living. The Bishop of Oxford said it was not the present policy to approve re-marriage in such cases, but that his view did not bind the conscience of any individual priest. Then dear Father Bide (do you know him?) who had come to lay his hands on Joy—for he has on his record what looks very like one miracle—without being asked and merely on being told the situation at once said he would marry us. So we had a bedside marriage with a nuptial Mass.

When I last wrote to you I would not have wished this; you will gather (and may say ‘guessed as much’) that my feelings had changed. They say a rival often turns a friend into a lover. Thanatos [the Greek god of death], certainly (they say) approaching but at an uncertain speed, is a most efficient rival for this purpose. We soon learn to love what we know we must lose.

I hope you give us your blessing: I know you’ll give us your prayers. She is home now, not because she is better (though in fact she seems amazingly better) but because they can do no more for her at the Wingfield: totally bed-ridden but—you’d be surprised—we have much gaiety and even some happiness. Indeed, the situation is not easy to describe. My heart is breaking and I was never so happy before: at any rate there is more in life than I knew about. My own physical pains lately (which were among the severest I’ve known) had an odd element of relief in them.

• From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis
• Compiled in Yours, Jack

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook: May 17, 2015

MINUTE FOR MISSION: MEDICAL BENEVOLENCE FOUNDATION - The faithful witness and perseverance of Presbyterian mission hospitals is inspiring and humbling. Moma Hospital is one shining example.

As a ministry of the Presbyterian Community of Congo, Moma is a place of peace for the poor, where compassionate care for the sick is coupled with conversations and prayers about the good news of God’s love ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

[Digory] thought of his Mother, and he thought of the great hopes he had had, and how they were all dying away, and a lump came into his throat and tears in his eyes, and he blurted out: “But please, please—won’t you—can’t you give me something that will cure Mother?” Up till then he had been looking at the Lion’s great feet and the huge claws on them; now, in his despair, he looked up at its face. What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face was bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion’s eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory’s own that for a moment he felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself.

“My son, my son,” said Aslan. “I know. Grief is great. Only you and I in this land know that yet. Let us be good to one another.”.

• From The Magician's Nephew
• Compiled in A Year with Aslan

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook: May 16, 2015

AFRICA / ETHIOPIA - The mother of five children is known to me only as a mother of five: a category rather than a name; one human being almost invisible among the throng of refugees coming into Ethiopia from South Sudan. She is the mother of five children among a thousand other mothers with numerous children ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

From ServLife International: "2nd Earthquake Hits Nepal"

ServLife International is a movement defined by values of God’s kingdom, not programs built around human efforts and activities. The reign and rule of God should be made apparent to every person on the planet, despite their religion, race or socioeconomic status. We believe that issues of justice are inseparable from the good news that Jesus Christ came to proclaim. ServLife exists to take the gospel of Christ and the hope of a better, more just, world to the lives of people we touch. This happens through individual contributions of time, creativity, resources and dreams.

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The Quake Hit 50 Miles Northeast of Kathmandu Tuesday

Friends,

When I was in Nepal last March a Nepali tour guide told my friend, "Another earthquake will probably happen soon." Nearly every 80-100 years Nepal is hit hard with an earthquake, and last April 25 it finally hit, and hit hard at 7.8 magnitude just west of Kathmandu. Today a 7.3 earthquake hit 50 miles northeast of Kathmandu, and the devastation continues.

I spent the morning on the phone and online chat gathering updates from our partners in Nepal. All the children in Kathmandu are safe. It will take days, maybe weeks, to contact the 20-30 pastors affected by this. We know that one pastor had a minor injury to his leg. His home and church had significant damage, as did most families that attend his church.

ServLife continues to send disaster relief funds for the purchase of food, tarps and other necessary materials. This Sunday our Assistant Director, Tim Kurth, leaves for Kathmandu to meet with our partners. There he will pray with them, listen, and begin the process of putting our long-term recovery plan in place.

The scale and scope of ServLife's disaster relief efforts will be in direct proportion to the funds that God provides through you and others for this relief effort. I commit to keeping you updated on our progress and ask you to consider making a gift to help ServLife recover from the quakes and continue our work of planting churches, caring for children and fighting poverty. CLICK HERE to donate for relief or text SERVLIFE to 80888 and make a $10 donation through your wireless carrier.

The mission of ServLife to plant churches, care for children and fight poverty is exactly what Nepal needs right now and into the future. Thank you for your partnership and prayers for the people of Nepal.

Thank you,

 
From Adam Nevins
Executive Director
ServLife International Inc.

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Join Our Mission


ServLife International propels reconciliation and justice by building global community to plant churches, care for children and fight poverty. Compelled by the message, life and love of Jesus Christ, we seek to care for the spiritual, physical, social, and economic areas of life in northern India and Nepal.  Learn more about our latest news, featured stories, and how to get involved at servlife.org

Support a Pastor Our church planters spread the love of Christ in some of the most difficult  environments in the world. • Support Them ...	Sponsor a Child For only $30 per month you can help give a child food, education, care and, most importantly, hope. • Sponsor Now ...	Fight Poverty The HOPE Fund, our micro-finance program, provides start-up funds for a small business, paving a way out of poverty for families in need. • Learn More ...

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ServLife International, Inc.
P.O. Box 20596
Indianapolis, IN 46220
USA

From @FWMission ... Friday Story: "One Wheelchair, Two Lives"

Founded in 2001, Free Wheelchair Mission

is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to providing wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations. Headquartered in Irvine, California, FWM works around the world in partnership with a vast network of humanitarian, faith-based and government organizations, sending wheelchairs to hundreds of thousands of disabled people, providing not only the gift of mobility, but of dignity, independence, and hope.

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Friday Story: "One Wheelchair, Two Lives"

Greetings , and Happy Friday!

The gift of a wheelchair provides an instant transformation for our recipients and often their families, friends and communities. Today, I want to share with you a story of a mother whose life was immediately changed because of her daughter’s gift of mobility:

Mrs. Nkomo arrived at the wheelchair provisioning site looking weary. Strapped to her back with a towel was her 13 year old daughter, Hope. Mrs. Nkomo he had walked approximately 9 miles from Old Pumula, Zimbabwe. Filling out the paperwork for her daughter’s wheelchair, she explained that Hope had suffered from meningitis when she was a toddler and has never regained her ability to walk or speak ...

• read the rest of this story ...

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Want to take one of these wheelchairs for a test drive? During normal business hours, visit the lobby at the Texas Street entrance of First Presbyterian Church-Midland, at the northwest corner of Texas and A streets, on the west side of downtown Midland. You can give the gift of mobility. The cost of $72.00 is a bargain to us ... but it is a life-changing gift to impoverished and disabled recipients ... and there are times when your contribution will be matched, reaching not one - but TWO, and sometimes FOUR recipients. Please note on your check "Wheelchair Gift."

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

Lewis, grieving the death of his wife, Joy:

And then one or other dies. And we think of this as love cut short; like a dance stopped in mid-career or a flower with its head unluckily snapped off—something truncated and therefore, lacking its due shape. I wonder. If, as I can’t help suspecting, the dead also feel the pains of separation (and this may be one of their purgatorial sufferings), then for both lovers, and for all pairs of lovers without exception, bereavement is a universal and integral part of our experience of love. It follows marriage as normally as marriage follows courtship or as autumn follows summer. It is not a truncation of the process but one of its phases; not the interruption of the dance, but the next figure. We are ‘taken out of ourselves’ by the loved one while she is here. Then comes the tragic figure of the dance in which we must learn to be still taken out of ourselves though the bodily presence is withdrawn, to love the very Her, and not fall back to loving our past, or our memory, or our sorrow, or our relief from sorrow, or our own love.

• From A Grief Observed
• Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis