Aslan

"'They say Aslan is on the move--perhaps he has already landed.'

"And now a very curious thing happened. None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do; but the moment the Beaver had spoken these words everyone felt quite different."


One morning last week, my alarm went off to the Narnia battle music from the movie soundtrack. Elijah was in the room at the time and asked to hear it again. I selected the song from my library on the iPhone so that he could hear the entire song. And it was there that a magical interest began in the mind of that boy. He sat staring at the picture from the cover of that album, inquiring of the characters and scenes that he saw, and especially of the majestic lion in the center. For the rest of the day he kept inquiring of the lion and the music, so I let him borrow the whole soundtrack, which he played continuously. So I pulled out some of my books, and opened up The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe to read to him.

And so for the past week plus, we've been reading a chapter every evening. This evening we arrived at Chapter 12, Peter's First Battle, and experienced the children's (including Elijah's) first encounter with Aslan. And as I read the words, "Aslan stood in the center..." Elijah lit up with excitement, his eyes shinning, his mouth open wide, absolutely enthralled in the story and this majestic character. How fascinating and exciting to experience such an imaginative and meaningful story through his eyes. He's going to flip when he sees the movie.

And yet, this great lion is but a mere shadow of what He represents. For HE is no mere character in a story, or fictional hero who vanquishes a make-believe evil, or the creator of a fairy tale land. Rather, HE is the author of life, the glorious Creator of the real Universe and its ever expansive space, the sovereign designer who orchestrates the path of every electron and sub-atomic particle, the Lord that holds all matter together, the originator of all knowledge, the source of everything good, the substance of love, the essence of justice, the redeemer of mankind.

May I feel the weight of the story when I pick up HIS Book every morning. And may I marvel and feel the faith and excitement of a child at the mere mention of HIS name.