"Motherhood of a Different Kind": A Meditation on Sarah Smith

There are some passages and images in books that just stick with you. Whether its the wording, the description, the way a mundane truth is made alive and new, etc. For me one of the passages that struck me initially and continues to broaden my imagination is from "The Great Divorce" by CS Lewis. And if you've read anything by Lewis or watched any of the movies based on The Chronicles of Narnia its not hard to imagine that his words would do this. When I first read this book I was a newer Christian and just starting to explore those deeper ideas of heaven, hell, suffering, beauty, etc. and this book is masterful in the way it explores these ideas. Highly recommend you read the whole thing! :)

One of the characters that stood out to me was Sarah Smith. When I first read the part with her in it I was honestly confused by who she was supposed to be, but I loved the way her love was described. It seemed so grand and full and encompassing. And at first that was my take away. The love that we have access to and can grow into with Jesus is so beyond words and so fulfilling that it will naturally flow out of us and create beautiful things wherever we go. Years later, as in like 2 years ago, I remembered her again as I started diving deeper into the realities of singleness. I remembered how her love was described as a love that created family out of people that weren't her blood family and had this motherly, nurturing aspect to it. I read back over the passage and realized that she is not said to have a husband or her own biological children in the passage. It then hit me that it wouldn't be a far stretch to say that this was a single woman in her earthly life (the main character sees her in heaven). Whether her singleness was due to death of a spouse, divorce or lifelong I don't know, but rereading the passage about her with this lens really reassured my heart and made me think more deeply about what life and love really look like.

I copied the passage below and bolded the sections that really encouraged and inspired me and wanted to share with you. And even though this passage is about a woman, I fully believe this reality is true for single men as well. Men and women are made in the

image of God and have the same capacity to embody and live out God's love in their lives and towards others. So without further ado, here is the man in "The Great Divorce" seeing Sarah Smith for the first time and speaking to his Teacher about her:

"First came bright Spirits, not the Spirits of men, who danced and scattered flowers. Then, on the left and right, at each side of the forest avenue, came youthful shapes, boys upon one hand, and girls upon the other. If I could remember their singing and write down the notes, no man who read that score would ever grow sick or old. Between them went musicians: and after these a lady in whose honour all this was being done.

I cannot now remember whether she was naked or clothed. If she were naked, then it must have been the almost visible penumbra of her courtesy and joy which produces in my memory the illusion of a great and shining train that followed her across the happy grass. If she were clothed, then the illusion of nakedness is doubtless due to the clarity with which her inmost spirit shone through the clothes. For clothes in that country are not a disguise: the spiritual body lives along each thread and turns them into living organs. A robe or a crown is there as much one of the wearer's features as a lip or an eye.

But I have forgotten. And only partly do I remember the unbearable beauty of her face.

“Is it?...is it?” I whispered to my guide.

“Not at all,” said he. “It's someone ye'll never have heard of. Her name on earth was Sarah Smith and she lived at Golders Green.”

“She seems to be...well, a person of particular importance?”

“Aye. She is one of the great ones. Ye have heard that fame in this country and fame on Earth are two quite different things.”

“And who are these gigantic people...look! They're like emeralds...who are dancing and throwing flowers before here?”

“Haven't ye read your Milton? A thousand liveried angels lackey her.”

“And who are all these young men and women on each side?”

“They are her sons and daughters.”

“She must have had a very large family, Sir.”

“Every young man or boy that met her became her son – even if it was only the boy that brought the meat to her back door. Every girl that met her was her daughter.”

“Isn't that a bit hard on their own parents?”

“No. There are those that steal other people's children. But her motherhood was of a different kind. Those on whom it fell went back to their natural parents loving them more. Few men looked on her without becoming, in a certain fashion, her lovers. But it was the kind of love that made them not less true, but truer, to their own wives.”

“And how...but hullo! What are all these animals? A cat-two cats-dozens of cats. And all those dogs...why, I can't count them. And the birds. And the horses.”

“They are her beasts.”

“Did she keep a sort of zoo? I mean, this is a bit too much.”

“Every beast and bird that came near her had its place in her love. In her they became themselves. And now the abundance of life she has in Christ from the Father flows over into them.”

I looked at my Teacher in amazement.

“Yes,” he said. “It is like when you throw a stone into a pool, and the concentric waves spread out further and further. Who knows where it will end? Redeemed humanity is still young, it has hardly come to its full strength. But already there is joy enough int the little finger of a great saint such as yonder lady to waken all the dead things of the universe into life.”

-CS Lewis, The Great Divorce

I hope you found some encouragement and inspiration here as I did. I would love to hear what specifically spoke to you, so feel free to comment or send me an email via the submission form at the bottom of each page on this blog. Have a great week! :)