Clutching the Lion

One last thing I wanted to do before our summer was officially over.

I wanted to introduce the girls to my all-time, favorite hero in all of children's literature.

I wanted to read the same book to them which was read to me when I was in elementary school.  The same book I couldn't help but read again as an adult.

I had to tell them about an epic adventure in an enchanted land.

I had to introduce them to Peter and Susan and Edmund and Lucy.  And to Narnia.  And more than anything, they just had to know Aslan.

So I found my copy of, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and I started reading.  Prodded along by the girls, I finished the book in less than three days. 

I've read a LOT of books to my girls over the years, but nothing I can recall has captured their little hearts and minds as this story. 

And why wouldn't it?  It's filled with fantasy, wonder, imagination, good, evil, betrayal, redemption, battle, and triumph. 

But mostly because the main character, Aslan the lion, is a representation of Christ.  I'm grateful my girls were able to see Him and hear Him loudly and clearly throughout the pages. 

They saw His power.   His wildness.  His wisdom.  His friendship.  His protection.  His authority.   His sacrifice.  His love.

And they saw themselves in each of the Pevensie children.  So did I.

Though more like Susan, I would rather identify with the youngest, little Lucy.

Fearless and brave, full of belief.  In all things at all times.

 

Here's an excerpt regarding Narnia and the Lucy we so love from Jennie Allen's A-MAZING book, Anything,

Aslan is running wild to battle, and she (Lucy) is clutching his fur, just trying to hold on for her life.  When they arrive, everyone has been turned to stone.  Aslan begins to turn them, miraculously turn them back to flesh.  And Lucy gets to be part of that!  She just held on for the wild ride and she gets to see all of that.

All Lucy did was hang on and believe.  She believed.  God wants all of us to be a part of these stories with him, and because she hung on, she participated in the most moving of stories, winning wars and healing and restoring souls.  This is the epic stuff spiritual stuff is made of.  I wanted to hold on.  Despite all my fear, I wanted to not miss a thing.

Over and over I'm reminded life is meant to be lived as an adventure.  Safe, comfortable and happy just doesn't seem to cut it anymore.  Neither does living in the middle.  Stuck somewhere in the wardrobe when there's a whole other world waiting to be experienced.

I want to be a part.  So like Lucy, I'm hanging on.

I'm trusting God is still at work.  Still working all things together for the good.  Particularly in the adoption.  I'm clutching tight to His hand, waiting for His Spirit to breathe new life into our situation.

I'm hanging on, keeping my eyes wide open so I don't miss a thing.  I'm hanging on and believing even when it all seems like a crazy, unsafe dream from a long time ago in a faraway land.

Upon hearing about Aslan for the first time from Mr. Beaver at the beginning of the book, Lucy asks,

"Then he isn't safe?"

Mr. Beaver responds with...

 

 

It was a necessary reminder for me.  No, He's not safe.  Neither are His ways sometimes. 

But yes, He is good.  And because He's my King, I will trust Him, clutching onto Him for dear life, wherever He chooses to take us on this wild ride.