“The Christian doctrine of suffering explains, I believe, a very curious fact about the world we live in. The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment, He has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God: a few moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bath or a football match, have no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.”

-C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

There are some things in my life that I can’t control.

There are some things in my life that I can control. One of these is the ability to turn off the television, shut down the Internet, and write something. So that is what I am going to do today.

What about you?

Updated to add:

Judith Ashley sent out a challenge to write a scene, story, blog post, etc., that shows “how to overcome fear and maybe even build a strong and healthy relationship.” So I’m going to focus my writing today on a scene where my heroine confronts her deepest fear and works to overcome it.