The Greatest Illusion

For the last few nights at the dinner table, we have been reading excerpts from the book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy. I can’t recommend this book enough, whether you are 12, 22, 42, or 92 years old.  

This was the dialogue from the book that struck me the most last evening…a dialogue that took place as all four characters (boy, mole, fox, and horse) were standing lakeside watching the beautiful and peaceful swans pass by. 

“How do they look so together and perfect?” Asked the boy. “There’s a lot of frantic paddling going on beneath,” said the horse.  

“The greatest illusion,” said the mole, “is that life should be perfect.”  

-Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse

I think we can all relate to this sentiment in some way based on our life’s circumstances at the moment.

For me, the word illusion struck me the most.  

It seems to me that the journey of life is about peeling away more and more of the illusions that we come to believe and therefore live through. The illusions about self, others, life, and God.

So I ask myself today:

• What are my illusions when I ask myself, “who am I?”
• What are my illusions about the expectations that I place on others?
• What are my illusions about what a “successful” life looks like?
• What are my illusions about God, especially as I wrestle with who I want Him to be as opposed to who He is?

It seems only humility and grace will allow the answers to become visible to me. Humility so that truth can set me free and grace so that I might have the courage to continue to ask. 

Humility and grace…to not only see our own “frantic paddling” but invite us to fly instead.

Imperfectly of course.