Birthdays galore . . .C.S.Lewis and Louisa May Alcott . . .two of my favorites.

“Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.”

I think I like her so much because in spite all odds and in spite her losses - she always looked up. I'd much rather be looking up then down.

Louisa May Alcott - Wikipedia

"Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist. She is best known for the novel Little Women, written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts and published in 1868. This novel is loosely based on her childhood experiences with her three sisters.

As an adult, Alcott was an abolitionist and a feminist. In 1847, the family housed a fugitive slave for one week. In 1848 Alcott read and admired the "Declaration of Sentiments" published by the Seneca Falls Convention on women's rights."

And I love C.C.Lewis - Wikipedia

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."
- C.S. Lewis

"Clive Staples Lewis - commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as Jack, was an Irish-born British novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist.

In 1956, he married the American writer Joy Gresham (17 years his junior), who died four years later of cancer at 45.

Lewis himself died three years later following a heart attack, one week before what would have been his 65th birthday. Media coverage of his death was minimal, as he died on 22 November 1963 – the same day that US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Raised in a church-going family in the Church of Ireland, Lewis became an atheist at the age of 15, though he later paradoxically described his young self as being "very angry with God for not existing".At the age of 29 he considered himself a theist and was eventually converted at the age of 33.

His early separation from Christianity began when he started to view his religion as a chore and as a duty; around this time he also gained an interest in the occult as his studies expanded to include such topics."

This man - raised as a Christian - converted to an atheist - to occult- became one of the finest Christians in history (my opinion).

And have you seen Shadowlands - the love story between Jack and Joy? Oh my gosh - it is one of the best love stories of all time (I told you I was a romantic). He married her when she found out she had cancer. It went into remission and they had a couple of good years together.

The line in the movie that stuck out to me was when Joy was talking to Jack about the happiness they were having then - knowing that she would be dying - she said, "We can't have the happiness of today without the pain of tomorrow. That's the deal." I don't know if I have that right - but I think she meant - she knew what was coming - but she wanted to love or live in the now and be happy - knowing the pain would come later. And, later, after he has lost his wife, Lewis repeats the sentiment in this way: "Why love, if losing hurts so much? I have no answers anymore: only the life I have lived... the pain now is part of the happiness then. That's the deal." Sometimes life is that way - you have to take the good and the bad. If we are happy now - there may be pain later on and if we have pain now, later will come happiness.

As you can tell I love C.S.Lewis - the way he thinks and Shadowlands - want more information - see http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/shadowlands.htm - an interesting read for Sunday.

Love,
Chatty