"He Is Building a Palace"

I read a book of selections from the writings of C.S Lewis recently and was really struck by this analogy.  I'm thinking of some of the people I would put on a list of people who fit the description he gives.  I'm happy to know some.

"Imagine yourself as a living house.   God comes in to rebuild that house.  At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing.  He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised.  But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense.  What on earth is He up to?  The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards.  You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace.  He intends to come and live in it Himself.

Already the new [people] are dotted here and there all over the earth.  Some, as I have admitted, are still hardly recognizable: but others can be recognized.  Every now and then one meets them.  Their very voices and faces are different from ours; stronger, quieter, happier, more radiant.  They begin where most of us leave off.  They are, I say, recognizable; but you must know what to look for. 

They will not be very like the idea of “religious people” which you have formed from your general reading.  They do not draw attention to themselves.  You tend to think that you are being kind to them when they are really being kind to you.  They love you more than other [people] do, but they need you less… They will usually seem to have a lot of time: you will wonder where it comes from.  When you have recognized them, you will recognize the next one much more easily.  And I strongly suspect (but how should I know?) that they recognize one another immediately and infallibly, across every barrier of color, sex, class, age, and even of creeds.  In that way, to become holy is rather like joining a secret society.  To put it at the very lowest, it must be great fun."

C.S. Lewis               Mere Christianity