The Horse and His Boy
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Divine Providence is the way God guides all things for good.
There is a powerful scene on Providence from The Horse and His Boy by CS Lewis
The main character, a boy named Shasta, thinks he has been left all alone in the world to protect and provide for himself. Finding himself all alone on a mountain after a very difficult experience he begins to complain to himself.
“I do think,” said Shasta, “that I must be the most unfortunate boy that ever lived in the whole world. Everything goes right for everyone except me…”
What put a stop to all this was a sudden fright. Shasta discovered that someone or some thing was walking beside him…He bit his lip in terror…The Thing went on beside him so very quietly that Shasta began to hope he had only imagined it…At last he could bear it no longer. Scarcely above a whisper Shasta said, “Who are you?” “One who has waited long for you to speak,” said the Thing… “Tell me your sorrows.” Shasta was a little reassured by the breath, so he told how he had never known his real father or mother and had been brought up sternly by the fisherman. And then he told the story of his escape and how they were chased by lions and forced to swim for their lives; and of all their dangers in Tashbaan and about his night among the tombs and how the beasts howled at him out of the desert. And he told about the heat and thirst of their desert journey and how they were almost at their goal when another lion chased them and wounded Aravis…”
“I do not call you unfortunate,” said the Large Voice.
“Don’t you think it was bad luck to meet so many lions?” said Shasta.
“There was only one lion,” said the Voice.
“What on earth do you mean? I’ve just told you there were at least two the first night, and—”
“There was only one: but he was swift of foot.”
“How do you know?”
“I was the lion.”
And as Shasta gaped with open mouth and said nothing, the Voice continued.
“I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.”
Providence was guiding everything in the life of Shasta for good. He just never realized it, so Shasta lived in fear and in ingratitude.
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We too often are like Shasta, we think we are the most unfortunate boy who ever lived.
At the end of our life, we shall stand before the Great Lion, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Jesus Christ, and he will show us just how he guided all things in our life for our greatest benefit. We will see that most of the time we were ungrateful and we went kicking and screaming almost the whole way.
How much better if we would stop and look back on our life today and see the hand of God through so many events from our birth to this day, and thank God for it. And then make the firm resolution that in every moment we will practice trust that God Our Father is present, acting in our life for our greatest good, no matter what it looks like on the surface, no matter how good or how difficult things may be, and thank God ahead of time for his providential care. It is so much better to practice living with an awareness that God is working for my greater good at every moment and thanking him for that than it is to live like you are on your own.
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Like Shasta, we often miss what God is doing. We see only this moment or this event and we judge it good or bad according to our limited sight, our limited understanding. God sees all things from eternity and he is guiding everything for good. The truth of God’s providence may be summed up in this way:
1. Everything that happens has been foreseen by God from all eternity and has been willed or permitted by Him.
2. He wills nothing, He permits nothing, unless for the good of those that love Him.
3. Do what is in your power; abandon the rest to God and let him do what he wants
4. All will be well, God has the matter in hand. We need fear nothing. You are safe.
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The conversation between Shasta and Aslan led me to reflect on my own life.
My birth mother became pregnant outside of marriage. She had the courage to have me and give me up for adoption. There was another couple who were next in line for adoption but they wanted a girl and passed on me, Thanks be to God because I ended up with the greatest adoptive parents in the universe (I am partial). On September 19, 1990 there was a violent thunderstorm on Lake Okoboji in Iowa that caused a couple to have their wedding reception in a bar and grill on the lake. I crashed that reception that day and met my wife Sandy – sent to throw me out. God’s providence. She was from Detroit. I was offered a sales position in Michigan. But I had to choose between Grand Rapids and Detroit. Detroit intimidated me but Sandy’s brother David talked me into taking Detroit and moving to Brighton MI. There I met seminarian Bill Ashbaugh who taught me the faith and invited me to watch the video where I encountered the Mother of God and everything changed. This seminarian told me to go to Steubenville for a masters in theology. There James Sanchez introduces me to Maximillian Kolbe and Dr. Miravalle has me write a paper on Kolbe which led to my doctoral studies on Mary at Dayton. It was also at Steubenville that I met Dr. Troy Hinkle and Edward Sri. Sri was the one who told me of the new position at the university of Kansas that brought both me and Troy here to start the School of Faith and the Rosary Movement.
From my conception to this day, God in his Providence has guided all things for good.
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Take some time today and reflect on your own life.
You may at times, like Shasta, that you are the most unfortunate person who ever lived, but if you look back over your life, step by step, you will see the things that led from one thing to another, thunderstorms, people in precisely the right place at the right moment…all the things there was no way you could control.
Reflect on your life today and see the hand of Providence.