There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell. I believe that the most lawless and inordinate loves are less contrary to God’s will than a self-invited and self-protective lovelessness … We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as a way in which they should break, so be it. What I know about love and believe about love and giving one’s heart began in this.
C.S. Lewis
I hope it’s okay, but I’m going to re-post this on my own blog (giving you props, of course). What a wonderful quote from a wonderful person.
Thank you.
GraD — Absolutely! Post away! No need to give me props, though, just Lewis.
I have always loved this quote. So true, so true. Thanks for the reminder.
I’ve always love C.S. Lewis, although I had never heard this quote. It’s so true…thanks.
This is a good one. The Four Loves, right? Tremendous book.
Oh, how do you do this? It’s like when someone opens up the paper to their horoscope and cannot believe how opportune it is and thus ends up reading it aloud to everyone nearby. I navigate over here and somehow you have managed to say just exactly what I needed to hear.
God works in mysterious ways. In my life, he uses Tracey.
Marisa — That is so sweet of you. I’m kind of tearing up. How are you, hon?
I’m healing. And I’ve been in a situation that has great potential for joy but – being me and being so raw at this point I have been doing the whole “oh, no. I’m emotionally vulnerable and therefore want to run like heck” thing… And then I just suddenly NEEDED to check in and see what you had been up to. And I found this.
I will get my act together and post something update-ish. But I needed you to know that I’m hanging in there. And trying to be brave and take some emotional risks. Which after all the loss of this year is so difficult. It was nice to be reminded that no mater the risk of heartbreak, we still have to allow ourselves to love. That’s just what I’m trying to do.
HUGS!
Marisa — I’m so glad to hear this. I’ve just been thinking about you a lot. Post when you’re ready to post, you know? I’ll think about you either way.
Thanks, hon. Slowly learning how to write about it. I need to. Hope to follow up with happier anecdotes soon.
HUG