106 THE FAITHFUL READER if anywhere, surely we shall find Him!’” Indeed, they look into the very eyes of “the Friend and Helper,” then bowing their heads in worship. We need not be troubled by the pagan associations of Pan. How should the Lord of Creation appear to animals? Rat and Mole encounter God as the embodiment and source of nature; they encounter Him who is undeniably other and, at the same time, undeniably the anchorage of their existence. The Wind in the Willows evokes much of what C.S. Lewis wrote about Sehnsucht—longing. Born from the vision of distant hills and awakening a desire for otherworldly joy, this longing, Lewis eventually realized, pointed to Christ. Indeed, it is in God that the longing for the other and longing for home meet. God is our origin and our end, our home and our destination. We long for the otherworldly, yet we often mistake the good things of this world for what shines through them, and so we chase after what cannot satisfy, we drink from wells that will never quench our thirst. As Lewis wrote in The Weight of Glory, “These things…are good images of what we desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers.” We are told to set our minds on things above rather than earthly things (Colossians 3:2). But in doing so, we come to enjoy the earthly gifts of a gracious God truly and fully. We can cross the fields of life awake to the upward call that tells us “Yes, quite right; this leads home!”
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