Expectations and Reality
Then, it may be, one finds a different fruit and not the fruit one thought of. One joy was expected and another is given. But this I had never noticed before that at the very moment of the finding there is in the mind a kind of thrusting back, or a setting aside. The picture of the fruit you have not found is still, for a moment, before you. And if you wished -- if it were possible to wish -- you could keep it there. You could send your soul after the good you had expected, instead of turning it to the good you had got. You could refuse the real good; you could make the real fruit taste insipid by thinking of the other. ]( Perelandra , C. S. Lewis) One joy was expected and another is given. Really, the whole book was a perfectly-timed read last week, dealing as it does with themes of joy and obedience. But that line in particular resonated with my heart and life. It is so true. My inclination is to want to hang onto the joy that I expect (and believe me, I always expect.