Cheerful Insecurity

I stopped by Jerry Root's office on the 4th floor of the Billy Graham Center a few months ago and as I walked out the door he said "Wait! I've got to give you something, because every time I met with your grandfather he gave me something on the way out!" So he gave me the 1700-page volume 3 of C. S. Lewis' collected letters, edited by Walter Hooper.

So I've been picking it up from time to time and going through the letters and it is just fascinating. They are letters of all sorts, short and long, thanks and advice. I could cite many portions. Here's one. After his mother has died--which Lewis admits is quite a relief--Lewis realizes he has been quite drained of funds as a result of hospital bills, and expresses worry to a friend. Then he says:

But it would be very dangerous to have no worries--or rather no occasions of worry. I have been feeling that very much lately: that cheerful insecurity is what Our Lord asks of us. Thus one comes, late and surprised, to the simplest and earliest Christian lessons!

--p. 79, emphasis original