A friendship begins

"In friendship…we think we have chosen our peers. In reality a few years’ difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another…the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting–any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” can truly say to every group of Christian friends, “Ye have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another.” The friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others." -- C. S. Lewis

Today is the day when my two favorite authors met, long ago. They didn't know at the time that they would become such good friends, but friends they became and I'm beyond happy that they did.

Friendship with Lewis compensates for much, and besides giving constant pleasure and comfort has done me much good from the contact with a man at once honest, brave, intellectual--a scholar, a poet, and a philosopher--and a lover, at least after a long pilgrimage, of Our Lord. --J. R. R. Tolkien

Without C. S. Lewis' friendship Tolkien may never have published Lord of the Rings. Without Tolkien's friendship, Lewis may never have become a Christian and therefore never have written the Chronicles of Narnia or the Space Trilogy or any of his other books, for that matter.

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one." -- C. S. Lewis.

"The unpayable debt that I owe to him was not 'influence' as it is ordinarily understood, but sheer encouragement. He was for long my only audience. Only from him did I ever get the idea that my 'stuff' could be more than a private hobby." -- J. R. R. Tolkien

Let's just stop and consider for a moment how dark the world would be without Middle Earth and Narnia. I mean, that was my whole childhood basically. Imagine the wonderful works of literature that we would be missing. Imagine not knowing Aragorn and Gandalf and Sam, Lucy and Aslan and Reepicheep.

The fact that my two favorite authors not only knew each other, but were great friends is something beyond awesome. Somehow, it makes them seem more real. It adds a whole new dimension to who they were. All the Lord of the Rings fanatics can never stop owing C. S. Lewis and anyone who's read even one of Lewis' books can never stop owing Tolkien.

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” - C. S. Lewis