Our house is decked-seriously, 3 full stories - decked in lights, along with the arbor, and several trees. Dr. Dh was drinking egg-nog yesterday morning, gave a happy sigh and said, "I love Christmas." And he does. The lights are his stand, in a world and a job that often focuses on loss and darkness, that the Light conquers, loves and makes all things new.
We are history buffs around here and love timelines and historical comparisons, and Dr Dh and I were talking about the fact that 100 years ago both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were fighting in the muck and death filled trenches of WWI. And yet out of that misery and tragedy sprang some of the greatest literature of our time.
C.S. Lewis has been a mentor of mine for many years. Narnia has been a true place, if not physically real, for most of my Christian life. It's been a place of hope and rest, where my own weaknesses and shortcomings are not so huge, where Marshwiggles do crazy things, if only for a dream, where even the weak and meek and lost can make a difference and where SomeONE bigger than everyone else speaks life and worlds and renewal into existence. Lewis reminds us that The Deep Magic IS a real thing.
I've had some hard conversations with some of my kids recently about disappointments- with ourselves, other people, the church. Unfulfilled hopes; future that might not happen, a tribe that doesn't exist or show up. It's easy to get burned out and give up. It's easy to focus on what isn't, instead of what could be; veering way off course from True North.
The last several years have been brutally challenging in one way or another, and I understand my kids' grief over what might never transpire in this life-time. But I have to hold fast to Narnia. For my own sanity, because I'm not very good at plugging along for no good reason; for my own salvation and eternity. While I hope young people never have to endure the rat and death invested trenches of WWI again, I am grateful that they drove C.S. Lewis to create the world of Narnia. It gives me a touch-point. A place to remember, even if it exists only in my imagination; that what's to come is the fulfillment of all of our hopes, dreams and desires. We all need a little magic in our lives, and Deep Magic- the real thing-the magic of a Creator King- is far better than false manipulation. For Narnia and for Aslan!
It's Christmas and Hanukkah and the Season of Lights (if you doubt it, just come check out our decorations!) and the celebration of the Light-of-the-World, the Messiah, the One True King.
Glory to God in the Highest Heaven,
Glory to God!
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