Rats in the Cellar

The other day I was listening to some BYU TV and heard a quote from C.S. Lewis that got me thinking. Here it is: (from Mere Christianity pg. 192-193)

“When I come to my evening prayers and try to reckon up the sins of the day, nine times out of ten the most obvious one is some sin against charity; I have sulked or snapped or sneered or snubbed or stormed. And the excuse that immediately springs to my mind is that the provocation was so sudden and unexpected; I was caught off my guard, I had not time to collect myself. Now that may be an extenuating circumstance as regards those particular acts: they would obviously be worse if they had been deliberate and premeditated. On the other hand, surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. The rats are always there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light. Apparently the rats of resentment and vindictiveness are always there in the cellar of my soul.

Now that cellar is out of reach of my conscious will. I can to some extent control my acts: I have no direct control over my temperament. And if (as I said before) what we are matters even more than what we do--if, indeed what we do matters chiefly as evidence of what we are--then it follows that the change which I most need to undergo is a change that my own direct, voluntary efforts cannot bring about. . . . We realise that everything which really needs to be done in our souls can be done only by God.”

Kind of deep, but I've been thinking a lot about it since I heard it and am relating it to being a parent right now. Ryan is two. He's a very good boy. But he still has tantrums and makes messes and tries to be independent as two-year olds do. I try very hard to be a loving, patient mama but sometimes when I am "caught off my guard" I sulk or snap or sneer or snub or storm. I'm grateful for the forgiveness of a sweet little boy and that I have the opportunity to try again if I don't react as positively as I should.