More from Andy's Chapbook: Lewis on Temptation

I know all about the despair of overcoming chronic temptations. It is not serious provided self-offended petulance, annoyance at breaking records, impatience, etc. doesn’t get the upper hand. No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep on picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be v. muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, & the clean clothes are in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give it up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present to us: it is the v. sign of His presence.

C.S. Lewis, letter to Mary Neylan, The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Vol. II, ed. Water Hooper (San Francisco: Harper, 2004), 507.