Leading At The Right Pace

I started reading C. S. Lewis’s third (in published order) Chronicles of Narnia book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, on my way home from my second England adventure to Oxford and The Kilns. As I read I was reflecting on how fast my study trip went. It was a little like when Susan, Lucy, Peter, Edmund, and now their cousin Eustace go to Narnia. It doesn’t matter how long they are in Narnia, when they return it is the same day and the same hour as when they left. My time went by quickly, and it seems like I just left, but I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to study yet another time in my own Narnia that had been just a place in books and stories, but made real by my being there. Now, like the children on Narnia, I am ready to go back.

In the fifth chapter, Eustace goes off by himself and gets lost and then says, “It is very unpleasant to have to go cautiously when there is a voice inside you saying all the time, “Hurry, hurry, hurry.” This is what I love about Lewis – the deep meaning and cause for thinking he artfully put in his work.

The lesson in that comment from Eustace is about the importance of balancing our inner desires for speed and urgency with the need to proceed cautiously and thoughtfully. Sometimes our impulsive urges can lead us astray, so it’s important to listen to that voice inside us that urges caution and patience. As a person whose modus operandi is “Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead” or “Let’s keep our foot on the gas,” this was a good piece for me to reflect on. It’s all about finding the right balance between moving quickly and taking necessary precautions.

The Greeks have a lot of idiomatic sayings about this slowing down. The most common one is probably “siga, siga” which when translated to English means “slow, slow.” Just like the pondering about balancing speed and caution in my previous paragraph, “siga siga” reminds us to proceed with care and deliberation rather than rushing into things impulsively. The reminder here, at least for me, is it’s all about finding the right pace and approach for each situation.

Byron's Babbles