We drove back from my grandparents house in Georgia today. It's a long ride, and we spent it listening to a dramatized version of the Chronicles of Narnia. We listened to The Magician's Nephew; The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; The Horse and His Boy; and Prince Caspian and the Return to Narnia. I really love those books. I remember sitting in my dad's lap in a giant brown armchair in Russia and listening to my dad read those books to me. I was probably only around four. The movies terrified me when I was young, the old version of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe sports a frightening witch and wolves. Still, they're probably some of my favorite stories, when I come to think of it.
I especially love Aslan. I always named my toy lions after him, even if they were female or clearly Simba from the Lion King. Listening to the stories now, I'm able to understand more of the theology behind the tale, and I see how Aslan has shaped much of my image of God.
C.S. Lewis was a Christian, and wrote many parts of the books as an allegory to the Bible and Jesus. In the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Aslan sacrifices his life to save the life of a traitor, Edmund. Hearing that part of the story I thought of the crucifixion. It's crazy that Jesus died for us, giving up everything. Lucy wants to tell Edmund what Aslan did for him, but Susan advises against it, feeling that Edmund already feels terrible enough for his blunders. Still, Lucy says, "I think he should know." Sometimes I think we're the same way. We've read the stories, watched the movies, seen the pictures. We know what Jesus did...but do we really know? I wonder. Maybe we need to be told again, really told, and really listen, really contemplate and comprehend what a great, great sacrifice was made on our miserable behalfs.
I dearly love the image of Lucy and Susan riding on Aslan's back. I smile listening to the readers tell of the children playing with Aslan, burying their faces in his soft mane. He's powerful and strong. He's wild and terrifying. He's loving and gentle. He's caring and kind. He's their king, and they love him with all their hearts. I love thinking of Jesus like that. Though He's a great King, powerful and mighty and to be feared, I can still come to Him and be loved. I can still tell Him my fears and terrors and sorrows and joys. He'll comfort me and hold me. He'll love me and care for me. But He'll also rebuke me when I need it (which is often) and sometimes when He watches out for me, it hurts at first. But everything He does is for a reason, everything has a purpose. Maybe sometimes, though, I'm seeing it the wrong way.
It's like in The Horse and His Boy. Shasta is walking along bemoaning his unfortunate life. Aslan comes along and asks why Shasta is so miserable, why his life is to be perceived as so awful. Shasta talks about how he was abandoned as a baby and brought up by a cruel fisherman. He escaped with Bree, the horse, only to be chased by lions, stranded in the desert and terrified by monsters at the tombs, and chased by more lions later. He had to run far when he was exhausted, and now he was lost in a strange land. The great lion, Aslan, replies that he does not believe Shasta has led such a terrible life after all. Confused, Shasta asks why. Aslan proceeds to explain that he was the lion who pushed the basket Shasta had been left in as a baby to shore so the fisherman would find it. He said he was the lion who chased Shasta and Bree, uniting them with Aravis her mare, Quinn. He explains that he was the lion who chased away the jackels at the tombs and that he was the cat who comforted Shasta while he slept at the tombs. He says he was the lion who terrified the horses the second time, giving them the speed of fear so they could reach the castle in time to warn the king of an attack. Then the light of morning comes and Shasta is able to see that the lion, who had been walking with him all night, had kept he and his horse from falling off the steep path. So many things in Shasta's story seemed so awful. His life did seem quite miserable when one looked at it. But one would be looking at it from the wrong perspective. Shasta's life had been saved countless times, and he had been brave and saved many lives, even though he was tired or scared.
I think a lot of the time I look at things the wrong way. I think life sucks, and focus on the outwardly bad appearance of circumstances. But everything's got a reason, everything's got a plan. Sometimes bad things just happen, but good can come out of them. You have to be willing to look for the good though, and to trust God's hand in things. He's got things under control, He always does. Sometimes we might not think it, but it might just be because we don't understand. He always knows what He's doing, and He never fails us or lets us go. We're not always meant to understand, but we are to follow and trust and obey.
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