Dear one,
Some years ago I delighted in this C.S. Lewis’ insight:
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”[1]
Admittedly, the context of this insight was Lewis’ consideration of pain, and therefore his greater stress upon the latter half of this statement: “[He] shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Nonetheless, I have found his reflection upon pleasure equally compelling: God is One, who continually seeks to communicate with us, using whatever means are good and right, including pleasure.
I first really encountered Lewis through his children’s stories, The Chronicles of Narnia, where my imagination was captured by his lengthy, or at least joyous descriptions of great and lavish banquets: tables laden with all manner of delicacies: robust meats and fish, tangy fruits and succulent vegetables, sweet and savory libations, and rich, even “decadent” desserts. Only later did I learn that he truly believed that our pleasures can direct us to our Creator, the Source of all real pleasures. Oh, these are not the tainted or tawdry pleasures in which we are culturally and daily invited to indulge; rather, these are the created pleasures of our five senses: viewing the grandeur of magnificent mountains; experiencing flower-strewn meadows; hearing the crash of white-capped waves; smelling the wafting scent of bacon and eggs, only then to eat them; and feeling the warmth of sunlight upon an aching body. What we’d miss if we had not been given these senses with their attending pleasures!—and of course, there are perhaps the greater pleasures of heart and mind, which in many regards transcend our physical senses: the pleasure of planning, building, singing, reading, painting, baking, running, writing, etc., all in relation to others.
From a certain perspective, Jesus captured genuine pleasure in the father’s loving response to his “prodigal” son:
“Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate” (Luke 15:23).
My point: do not be surprised if God whispers to you in those pleasures which are true and genuine; or, if you will allow, we are God’s “poem,” “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which [He] prepared for us, that we might walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
Delighting,
Stan
[1] C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1962), p. 93.