When Lewis uses the word 'meaning', he's talking about some sort of Christian desire to become worthy of ascending to Heaven at death.
No, Lewis is speaking of literally all meaning in life; he's not talking about a uniquely Christian outlook. It is a universal human experience to desire a meaningful life. Lewis's argument is that such a desire could not have arisen in an accidental universe. There's no rational link between an accidental, meaningless "big bang" and you and I having this discussion about meaning.
I am certainly not a Christian, but I still find meaning in life through other pursuits, such as artistic appreciation or spending time with my son.
Lewis's argument - and he's right - is that such things in fact don't have meaning in a Godless world. You may claim such things are meaningful, but that would just be you speaking on the basis of your personal feelings about those things, rather than objective fact. It's only because God exists that what you describe does, in objective fact, have meaning.
In a Godless world, by contrast, what if, say, a sociopath entered your home and murdered you and your son - as well as destroying whatever artwork you have in your home? And what if he said that, to him, destroying art and murdering people are "meaningful"? In a Godless world, he'd be just as rational saying that as you are in talking about the "meaning" in art and family: your "meaning" would clash with the "meaning" of the killer, and neither of you would have superior rational grounds over the other for the position you hold. Neither of you would be "right" or "wrong," precisely because in a Godless world the terms "right," "wrong," and "meaning" are nonsensical; they signify nothing.
It's precisely because God exists that family matters, that art matters, etc. Why? Because God loves family and art, and created them both.
Finding meaning in life is better than ascribing it to a God.
That is rationally nonsensical. There literally can't be any meaning in an accidental world. Accidents by definition lack meaning or purpose. You can only experience a meaningful life because God exists. Otherwise your life is an accident, and accidents don't "mean" anything. If there's no God, then your life isn't anymore "meaningful" than that of bugs I've stepped on over the years. If there's no God, then everything is literally an accident of physics and chemistry; there's no particular thing that has anymore intrinsic meaning or value than any other particular thing. All accidents; all coming from nothing and going to nothing. (And we haven't even discussed the rational absurdity of something coming from nothing; I'm just referencing it for the sake of discussion here: i.e., if something could come from nothing, purely by accident, then the moral/spiritual implications of that would be . . . .)
The reason we (humanity as a whole) have a tendency to push God away at the same time as we try to manufacture our own "meaning" is that we're offended by the notion that God is God, and we're not - and we must submit to Him. We want to be our own "gods," and yet because we're created by God, we desire meaning in life. So we fool ourselves into thinking we can be our own "gods" and manufacture our own "meaning."
Can't be done, my friend.
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