There was once a small boy who fell in love with all things grand; the power of a ship, the influence of a building, the grandeur of a bridge. This young boy would look out at the harbor and watch all three of these engineering feats are built, function, and be demolished. For this young boy this was an awe-inspiring scene.
The desire for this child to participate in such grand events became strong. There was nothing in his life that would be more satisfying than influencing these grand engineering feats. To design a bridge, to build a building, to run a ship – all would be heaven to this young boy.
And so the boy went out one day, and decided that he was going to BUILD – and he was determined to participate in this world of engineering.
Yet, as he started to work on his first masterpiece, as a young child in his backyard, he noticed something that he has never noticed before. This young child noticed that he was born without a joint in his thumb, making it unable for him to bend his thumb under his nail. This was something that he shared with his brother and both of them inherited it from their father.
Now to say that he never noticed this before wouldn’t be entirely accurate. He was well aware that he couldn’t bend his thumb from birth; it just wasn’t until this moment in his life that it ever seemed to matter. This young child was not able to handle materials as well as he would need to in order to work on these structures, and when he realized this he was devastated.
Yet, don’t judge this boy – he didn’t just give up. He tried, and he pushed, and we did everything within his power until he just realized that he was physically unable to do what was necessary to get what he wanted. And sadly he was right.
Being disappointed with such revelations – the young boy retired to his house. When his mother passed away, he found himself retired to his attic. There in his attic, alone, and disappointed with the lot afforded to him, he learned that with his thumb he was able to do only three things that he found value in. First, of all he could think, imagine, and escape into worlds of his own making – worlds with talking animals that dressed as humans. Second, he could hold a book, and therefore read and learn the minds and thoughts of others. Third, he could hold a pen or a pencil, which allows him to draw pictures of his Animal-land, and write stories of various adventures.
Years later, this boy, unable to do what he dreamed of most of all, eventually became the one and only C.S. Lewis. He became one of the greatest and most universally respected inspirational Christian authors in the world. He changed and has influenced the minds of millions – and has brought more people closer to their faith than arguably any modern author. Potentially all of this as a result of an inherited missing thumb joint.
Paul speaks about his “thorn in the flesh” which many of us lament, but Paul praises. The praise of Paul comes from his constant reliance on Christ to endure and live through such thorns. But for Mr. Lewis, would just thorn be accredited to placing him on the path in which he was fore-ordained to do? Is his handicap really what enabled him to accomplish his grand work?
Are our thorns here for that very same reason? If Mr. Lewis had his everything he wanted as a child, would he have become what he had become? If we had everything we felt we needed, would we become what he are needed to become?
May all of us embrace our missing thumb joints and our thorns – not only that we may rely on the grace of Christ to help us endure (as Paul would say), but that we might follow the path and be in the place that Christ wants us to be (as exampled by Mr. Lewis).
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