Observations on "A Grief Observed"

This is a repost of a brief review I wrote for the GCPC Women's Newsletter. As the book is a worthy read and this venue may find other interested readers, I thought it warranted sharing, again.

I picked up “A Grief Observed” with great expectations. It is, after all, authored by C. S. Lewis. But I admit to being uneasy upon reading the introductions and first chapter. The theology seemed off. I had, perhaps unfairly, opened this book with the assumption that Lewis was unassailable in matters of Christian doctrine. Then I was reminded that Lewis, while a highly-skilled and rightly-renowned apologist, was a lay theologian of Anglican background. He was not trained in Reformed doctrine, and my expectations had to be reworked in order to fully appreciate the value of this excellent and substantive little book.

So let me be straightforward. This book was never intended to be an examination of Biblical doctrine on death and the after-life and should not be read as such. It is, however, a remarkably-vulnerable account of one man's experience with grief and how it affected his faith.

Lewis' book is a raw, honest, and introspective record of reconciling beliefs with reality and how that can, sometimes, be a murky, drawn out, conflicting process. This book gives permission to feel the real effects of grief and wrestle with it, acknowledging that no two experiences will be the same. Grief is unique to the bearer. But the balm is always faith.

Lewis returns to this again and again as he wages internal war over feeling a failure for questioning God's plans and good purpose. Even as he laments his perceived lack of faith, calling it a “house of cards,” he goes on to recognize God's hand in restoring and rebuilding it. This is an encouragement because we know that struggling over the weakness of our faith is an indicator of God's continued perfecting of it, and Lewis is not alone in this. If we have not already experienced loss of his magnitude, we likely will. Sharing his personal struggle offers the reader commiseration and, in it, comfort and hope.

I recommend this book, not as a road map to navigating grief, but as a thought-provoking glimpse into one man's journey through it. One of the great values of this book is that it reminds us to be keenly aware of what our priorities ought to be and that the lifelong refining process is purposeful and desirable.