Intemperance in Work
Dear Mary,A line in haste about the bits underlined in your letter (which I enclose for reference). Don't be too easily convinced that God really wants you to do all sorts of work you needn't do. Each must do his duty "in that state of life to which God has called him". Remember that a belief in the virtues of doing for doing's sake is characteristically feminine, characteristically American, and characteristically modern: so that three veils may divide you from the correct view! There can be intemperance in work just as in drink. What feels like zeal may be only fidgets or even the flattering of one's self-importance. As MacDonald says "In holy things may be unholy greed". And by doing what "one's station and its duties" does not demand, one can make oneself less fit for the duties it does demand and so commit some injustice. Just you give Mary a little chance as well as Martha!
Yours,
Jack
~C.S. Lewis, Letters To An American Lady, Letter of March 19, 1956
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Permalink will always get you back to the specific post. If you just cut and paste the URL at the top of the page instead of using the permalink, it will bring you to the most current post.
No problem. Oh, and by the way, I'm a girl. :)
If I could tatoo this on my forehead, burn it into my brain with a woodburning engraver, I surely would. Thank you very much for this. Most excellent timing!
(Thank You, Abba!)
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