We're From Finchley

Susan and Peter both mentioned this (in the movie).

First when Mr. & Mrs. Beaver told them about the prophecy...

Peter: I think you've made a mistake. We're not heroes!
Susan: We're from Finchley!

And later when Aslan and Peter were talking...

Peter: Aslan, I'm not who you think I am.
Aslan: Peter Pevensie, formerly of Finchley.

According to Wikipedia, Finchley is a fairly ordinary, middle-class residential suburb of London. It would seem the Pevensies let this ordinariness dictate who they were and what they could do, regardless of prophecies and Aslan himself.

Well, Aslan doesn't have a class system.

Neither does God. He's not looking for ready-made heroes. If God asks us to do something, we really have no right to tell Him, "I can't. I'm not good enough." He is well able to help us.

Besides all that, why should where we came from (not just a location, but our whole past) affect our response to God's call? Certainly our past plays a part in who we are, but it should never stop us from obeying God and becoming what He would have us be.

Not Quite Home

I think I just lived Narnia. Only I traveled via Air Canada as opposed to a wardrobe. My friends were humans, not fauns and centaurs. There wasn't much snow and there wasn't any war, but in spite of the differences, I think I understand the Pevensies a little better now.

Nothing here in Canada changed during my three week absence, but nothing feels quite the same as it did when I left.

Oregon, though not a completely different world, wasn't my home when I arrived there. But I found a place for myself there swiftly.

Now I'm back where I came from, where I've always been... and finding my place here is proving to be somewhat elusive.

Is this a little taste of how the Pevensies felt?

An Expression of His Mind

The creation story of Narnia beautifully parallels the creation story in the Bible. Aslan created a world out of nothing with a song. God spoke our world into existence.

Think about this...

With an unspeakable thrill, she felt quite certain that all the things were coming (as she said) "out of the Lion's head". When you listened to his song you heard the things he was making up: when you looked round you, you saw them.

The world of Narnia was the visible expression of Aslan's thoughts. Our world is an expression God's thoughts.

I am an expression of God's thoughts. To me, that's a pretty powerful idea. This means that I have a responsibility to live in a way that expresses HIM. Not just my personality and preferences, but HIS.

Just a thought for y'all.

Surprises

With Aslan... expect the unexpected. He never did the predictable, logical thing. Not once.

He had a boy lead his army.
He died for someone who refused to believe in him.
He came back to life.
Only to leave again... because he's not tame.
He used small, supposedly weak, armies to defeat the great.
And small, supposedly weak, people to lead.
He chose ways and means of accomplishing his purposes that caught everyone off guard.

I don't want a God who fits in my pocket. Not even a God who fits my wildest imaginations. Sometimes--and only for a little while--I wish God would let me arrange a few things. But when I look back on the surprises He's given me in the past, I know I'd much rather live the adventure He's planned for me than try to come up with something on my own.

On Forgiveness & Humility

They are related, you know. In order to truly forgive or be forgiven, we must be humble. As the forgiven, we are faced with our own shortcomings and we need to acknowledge them. As the forgiver, we must be gracious, realizing that we ourselves fail just as easily. Look at Bree...

"Slavery is all I'm fit for. How can I ever show my face among the free Horses of Narnia?--I, who left a mare and a girl and a boy to be eaten by lions while I galloped all I could to save my own wretched skin!"
"We all ran as hard as we could," said Hwin.
"Shasta didn't!" snorted Bree. "At least he ran in the right direction: ran back. And that is what shames me most of all. I, who called myself a war horse and boasted of a hundred fights, to be beaten by a little human boy!"
"I know," said Aravis. "I felt just the same. Shasta was marvelous. I'm just as bad as you, Bree. I've been snubbing him and looking down on him ever since you met us. But I think it would be better to stay and say we're sorry than to go back to Calormen."

Better... yes. Easier... not usually. Anything requiring the humbling of ourselves is not generally easy.

"My good Horse, you've lost nothing but your self-conceit."

And that's something we all ought to lose. Finding out we're not "all that" isn't especially fun. Remembering that we're just as prone to failure as the one who wronged us knocks us off the pedestal of self-righteousness. And you know, that's where we should be.

Taking Too Long

I'm obviously not a Narnian purist if I'm about to blog about something that's in movie, but not in the book.

Peter, in the train station...

"How long does he expect us to wait?"

And at Aslan's How...

"I think we've waited long enough."

It would seem Peter and I share a common fault. God's not doing what I think He ought to do? Well, He must have forgotten about me. So I'll just go ahead and do it myself.

Peter tried that. The result?A lot of needless death. A huge loss for the Narnians.

So maybe my running ahead doesn't yield such dramatic results as this. But still... how can my attempts to take over God's job possibly produce GOOD results? They never have yet... but I keep trying. Really, I have no business rebuking Peter for his actions. I do the same thing.

Home at Last

"I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this. Come further up, come further in!"

~Jewel

There you are--my absolute favorite part of the Chronicles (other than that it means I've come to the end of my favorite series of books).

If anything ever made me not dread death, this is it. Even those involved in the train accident had known no fear, but excitement.

Death is not an end, nor is it something to dread. It is a homecoming; a fulfillment. I will go to the place I have longed for and been created for.

It is a beginning.

Between His Paws

In the middle of a battle, with a certain death before them...

"Courage, child: we are between the paws of the true Aslan."

~Tirian

All around Jill and Tirian was a raging battle. They knew that they would soon die, either by the sword or by being thrown into the stable. And what lay beyond that door they could not possibly know.

Still, knowing that they were between Aslan's paws gave them courage to face whatever came their way.

Wow.

I wish I could face life with that kind of courage. I should be able to. After all, I have the same assurance. I am in the hands of the true God.