Busyness and Joy

You would think that not having a job would lend me oodles of time to blog, but I think there is something in me that drives me to stay busy. And so, alas, I cannot claim any excuse that I do not blog except my own weakness. Busyness is not next to godliness, but I think I've picked up something of my American culture that goads me to behave as if it were.

But the other reason I haven't felt like blogging so much is that it feels like a very narcissitic endeavor. I don't like talking about myself so much. But if you all enjoy reading blogs, then maybe it isn't so bad as it feels.

I just spent way to much time looking at the Chronicles of Narnia teaser and behind the scenes stuff at http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/narnia/index.html
This looks like it is going to be a really good film! And its not coming a moment too soon, either, cause I don't think I could've taken another December without a LOTR film to look forward to. Now Decembers are looking good again. I think this one is Arclight-Theaters-worthy; maybe they'll even play it in the Dome. Yea! I can't wait.

This morning I was reading Lewis' The Horse and His Boy. Its been awhile since I read through the Narnia books, and its fun to get into them again. There is something about this world he created that has a powerful draw on me, and I think I have finally determined what it is--Narnia is full of joy, a theme that was very powerful in Lewis' life. Reading about the adventures in Narnia makes me long for another, better place, a place that Lewis and all other believers are looking forward to. A place where we can walk with God, where everything is trully alive. There is a pervasive feeling of mystery in his books as well, as though you with the characters are longing for something wonderful that seems just beyond the horizon and somehow promised to you in the future. And I think that is how Lewis experienced joy, as a powerful urge for something more, that was there to be had one day in God's presence. Not the kind of urge that is strangling or oppressive, but a kind that is delightfully and powerfully compelling, one that gives strength even as it drives you on. It is perhaps most evident in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, though this tingling of joy I think is in every book of the series.

But now back to that busyness business...I have a George Foreman grill, greasy cookie sheet, two frying pans and a heap of plates, bowls, and forks to clean and thereby reclaim my kitchen as a workspace and not a dump. And I should vacuum and make the bed and I'm sure there are a ton of others things I could obsess over....but then, I hear a book calling my name as well...