The Slacker revisits Screwtape

Well, I think it's obvious how much progress I am making on Les Miserables. Little to none, lately. I am still determined to finish it by the end of the summer, but I have been less and less motivated to finish, especially when I have to sludge through chapter after chapter of plot-interrupting material about Paris and Napoleon, cloisters and politics. Somehow I'm just not constructed to appreciate battle strategies and political gymnastics and such. Poor me. I have come up with a way to get through it, though--when I get fed up with excess information that breaks the plot, I switch to reading another book. Then I have another wack at it. Right now, I'm reading The Screwtape Letters again. I've been thinking lately about how easily my mind is distracted from God by countless things that I come up with to deceive myself, so it has been great reading this Lewis book and seeing new phrases and ideas register in my mind.

I'm also rediscovering the Psalms. Quality.

Here is some food for thought:

"Remember, he [the human being tempted] is not, like you [wormwood the demon], a pure spirit. Never having been a human (Oh that abominable advantage of the Enemy's!) you don't realise how enslaved they are to the pressure of the ordinary."

It's funny how little things like putting aside prayer or communion with God to fix lunch, take a nap, or make a grocery list can be used effectively against the human heart. Especially when you tell yourself that you'll carry on whatever thoughts about God later when you have more time, feel more awake, etc. It's cheated me out of a lot, for sure.