Monday, June 11, 2007

The Lady



Right now I am finally finishing Perelandra, By C. S. Lewis. The second book in his Space Trilogy. I stated it last year but got distracted and never finished it. And if I put a book down it is very hard for me to pick it back up... I dunno why. I actually hate that about myself. What is frustrating and kinda funny is that I stopped reading it right before it got really meaty. It predominately a story of temptation to do something you know is against the will of God, or Maledi as He is referred to in the book. It's very much like The Screwtape Letters, and that is my all time favorite book. So I can't wait to finish this puppy.

Ransom, one of the protagonists in the story, is in a monologue where he is discussing temptation and its function and purpose it can have. There some lines that spoke wonders to me and is still echoing around in my head. It's something that I already knew but i guess I just didn't quite understand.

"If the Lady were to be kept in obedience only by the forcible removal of the Tempter, what was the use of that? What would it prove? And if the temptation were not a proving or testing, why was it allowed to happen at all?"

I needed to hear that like nothing else. When I think about temptation and the Lords hand in it, or lack there of, it is comforting, scary, challenging, and frustrating all at the same time. I already knew that the Lord allows us to be tempted and tested, but those few sentences somehow acted as a prism. They broke down the light/reality of it, and now I can see all the different colors/truths of this dynamic relationship we have with temptation. And the role it has in the Lords refining process for us. The Lord will take the bad things in our life and use it for His glory. Remember what Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [His] purpose." Now I wont be so foolish as to ask that temptation be removed from my life and walk, but be encouraged to be in word and prayer and be ready for it. That I might be proven.

And now a nice segway into art...

I am trying to draw The Green Lady. She is supposed to be beautiful, have confidence, but also innocent and "naive". I am having difficulty finding that balance. But it is a lot of fun trying!


8 comments:

Andrea said...

I think you are doing good. I especially like the straight one drawing. She is looking right at you, showing confidence, yet the soft features and youthfulness make her seem innocent too. Keep up the struggle!!

Kenfield said...

This one of my favorite CS Lewis books, I especially like the ending.
Lewis has always has this amazing ability to say so much in such few words, definably an instrument of God.
The one thing I ember about the description of the Green Lady is that her skin was described as like a glossy beetle’s shell, reflecting back green light, or something like that.

lightyear8 said...

Ransom. Thats an awesome name for a protagonist.

Kenfield said...

CRAP! I've got to stop typing rushed comments while I'm rushing off to work in the mornings. I hope my last comments wasn't too confusing.

Frankie Franco III said...

Not at all Mr. Kenfield

Brandon Starr said...

Nice Frankie, I knew what this was before it even finished loading the image. One of my all time favorite books. Definitely the best out of the series. Enjoy it!

Unknown said...

I love this drawing. Well done. I know what you mean when you say it just got "meaty"

I too put it down after the first couple chapters. I reread Out of the Silent Planet then started this back up. I almost put it down again when I forced myself to continue. I am so glad I did. Phenomenal book!

So I searched "green lady" in Google images and so far you have captured her the best.

Unknown said...

I love this drawing. Well done. I know what you mean when you say it just got "meaty"

I too put it down after the first couple chapters. I reread Out of the Silent Planet then started this back up. I almost put it down again when I forced myself to continue. I am so glad I did. Phenomenal book!

So I searched "green lady" in Google images and so far you have captured her the best.