Book Review: Letters to Malcolm

The other day, I scoured my library for books on prayer. I'm several months into my 2023 Facebook Prayer Project. Prayer is a discipline, to be sure. And can often feel more like a duty than a delight, as C. S. Lewis writes in this compilation of letters to a friend, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer. We long for it to be something we anticipate with joy, but our humanity often pulls it into the realm of obligation. I acknowledge it is a privilege to pray for my friends. Yet, the actual process of setting aside time - morning, noon, and night - is sometimes challenging.

Lewis also observes that our prayers, while grounded in time, are "eternally in the score of the great symphony." What a beautiful picture of prayer. We take time to express our hopes, dreams, wishes, and struggles to God, who is already aware of all these things, and the process weaves out into a symphony outside of time (because God exists and works outside of time). Our actions, grounded in time, matter for eternity! How cool is that!

Finally, I especially appreciated his discussion of Christ's prayer in Gesthemane. When I first encountered our struggle with a prodigal child, it triggered a deep anguish and despair within me. This didn't surprise me. I battle chronic depression even in the best of times. But what surprised me was the response of other Christians to my anguish. 

Lewis sums it up well: "Some people feel guilty about their anxieties and regard them as a defect of faith. I don't agree at all. They are afflictions, not sins. Like all afflictions, they are, if we can so take them, our share in the Passion of Christ." Others encouraged me to stop "sinning" in unbelief and to take hold of firm faith. Yet, I believe one can ride the dual waves of anxiety and faith without one cancelling out the other. My faith in God's perfect will (for my best and for His glory) never wavers, though my emotional response to my trial may bring angst and affliction. And when someone is in anguish over a trial God has allowed into their life, isn't that a far better time to extend a hand of comfort and solidarity than to express condemnation for perceived sin. An offer of "I'll be praying for you!" means far more than "You can't allow circumstances to determine your faith." Would that we were all kinder to one another when pain enters our lives!