Squadouche instead of Paradise

Orphans sometimes have a hard time figuring out what’s going on once they’re adopted. For instance, we heard about a little boy who was adopted from Ethiopia and was told of the incredible home he would have once he reached America. His nannies promised him the works. They told him all about American homes with their fancy indoor plumbing, their new-fangled air conditioning, and their electronic gaming consoles. The little boy was so excited. When his parents put him on the jumbo jet to fly home, he became inconsolable. He shrieked with terror for hours and hours. Not knowing his language, they could not figure out what was wrong.

This went on for some time, and finally an Ethiopian woman on the plane came over to help. She found out that the boy thought that the airplane was his new home. He had no concept that some contraption could actually fly through the air, over an ocean, to America. He assumed that he had to share his new “home” with the several hundred other people on the flight. He thought his airplane seat was his new bed. He thought his living space was the row in between his two parents. He thought the airplane food was his new diet.

He was horrified.

My favorite C.S. Lewis quote (and there are so many good ones!) is from his sermon Weight of Glory:

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

Could a person literally be living his life like an “ignorant child” who is “making mud pies in a slum”? He cannot imagine something better so he settles for squadouche instead of paradise. He settles for an airplane instead of a mansion.

How about you?