A Year with Aslan: Days 25 and 26 – The Narnian Lords and Aslan Roars

Despite the 24-hour break I’ve taken from my blog, I still have little to say right now.  Fighting this cold seems to be taking all my energy at the moment.  But, feeling a little better tonight, I did take time to catch up on my Aslan reads and it’s really a combination of the two readings that seem to feed the spiritual fire…that seem to challenge me.

In the first passage, we find Shasta (in The Horse and His Boy) witnessing the Narnian procession into the Tarkaan city.  The second passage tells of the power of Aslan’s roar and the varied reactions of those who hear it – fear, excitement, wonder, danger…
And I guess taking the two passages as a whole…Shasta sees King Edmund and Queen Susan for the first time…sees Narnians free and happy.  It’s a life he longs to live, one he’s never really heard stories about until he met Bree (Talking Horse).  And it’s this sight of freedom, I think that pulls him in…and something he finally gets to experience when he meets Aslan face-to-face.

There are passages through Lewis’ stories about Aslan’s roar – how the evil White Witch hated that sound, how at Aslan’s name the Pevensie children felt wonder, excitement, and bravery…how just the name of the Great Lion can stir such emotion…but to hear to voice of the Great Lion…

And the “thought-provoking” questions at the end of these passages bring forward the question why such wide emotions may be raised by the Lion’s roar..and I think a lot of it relates back to the previous passage…dealing with the image and freedom of Narnia versus the “false religion” of the Tarkaans…
When someone knows they’re in the wrong, the voice of authority, the one capable of dishing out sentences and punishments sounds frightening and condemning.  Quite the opposite, the voice can sound quite welcome and beautiful if it’s a voice you’ve been waiting to hear all your life.
To Lucy it would be the most beautiful sound in the world.
To the White Witch, the most frightening.

So, it gets me thinking…what’s the sound of Jesus’ voice sound like to me?  Is it a judging/condemning voice?  Or is it a voice that calls me into a closer relationship?  Is it a voice, with love, that speaks to me with encouragement…
and I think it really depends on the life I’m living.
Am I living a life that’s worthy of the loving voice of Christ? 

And to be honest…a lot of this made more sense in my head…so forgive the somewhat-lack of coherent thought.  Cough syrup with codeine may be to blame!

A Year with Aslan: Day 19- Nobody Special

“It doesn’t follow that you’ll be anyone very special in Narnia.  But as long as you know you’re nobody special, you’ll be a very decent sort of Horse, on the whole.”

I can’t imagine a place more humbling than where I am now.
In so many ways I feel like Bree – the great war-horse, prided on winning battles, owned by the greatest warrior – having just run away from a challenge – facing off with a lion – he decided to save his own skin, rather than stand up to the image he so prided himself on.  He ran away from the challenge, and berated himself when Shasta proved to be braver than he.

It’s quite humbling looking at a pile of job rejections.  One more gets added to the pile today.
It’s even more humbling – with two college degrees – cashiering for minimum wage while the job rejections continue to pile up.
It’s even more humbling realizing the job you thought may have been a sure thing – part of the reason for cancelling an interview for another job last week – doesn’t even offer you a second interview.  (Now I’m left wondering What If?)

In my quest for some semblance of a regular Bible-reading routine I saw on Twitter tonight where Evan Wickham started a Bible study on the book of James – *challenging book* he says.  I have to agree, because just in the first chapter – James urges to reader to be joyous in trials…
okay not necessarily joyous because of the trials, but because of what trials bring…perseverance.  (I sometimes HATE that word)

And it’s not easy – after *I’ve lost count* so many rejections, it’s hard to keep looking for a job I “feel called” to.  But, I keep looking…despite the cringe-inducing sentiments so many people love to tell me…”you’ll find something” – “you just haven’t found the right job yet” – “God’s got a job out there for you” (and I really do appreciate the sentiments, it’s just hard to hear after so many let downs to keep believing it)

I can imagine Bree’s face – hunkered away in the corner moping after the lion attack – as he “cries” over his lack of courage, and realizes he’s not necessarily the horse he thought he was.
And I realize trials are worn as a badge of honor in several New Testament letters – Paul, James, Peter – but I can’t help but wonder…when is it finally enough?

I thought the same thing throughout the book The Horse and His Boy – lion attacks, mistaken identities, wild jackals, a desert to cross, a dangerous mountain pass, an army in pursuit, a battle for Archenland…I seriously started to question C.S. Lewis’ writing here.  I realize it’s a children’s story…adventure is exciting…blah, blah, blah…but enough’s enough – let’s get on with the story here…

But, I guess in the end, it took all of this to really drive home what it is to be humble – at least for Bree.  And, had they not gone through all of the trouble, would the arrival into Narnia had been as sweet?  Probably not.

And despite what I keep telling myself…I have to wonder if I’m really going the right way.  Because it hurts…and the longer I do this…I feel this distance growing…and just now – listening to the song I just posted above the words hit me –

So you’ve pulled away from the love that would’ve been there
You start believin’ that your situation’s unfair
But there’s aways scars when you fall that hard.
When you lose our way, we get back up again
It’s never to late to get back up again
And one day you’re gonna shine again
You may be knocked down, but you’re not out forever

And I guess that’s where I am…which gets me thinking’ about my favorite boxer…Rocky Balboa – smart guy if you ask me –
“What is it you said to the kid? The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very rough, mean place…and no matter how tough you think you are, it’ll always bring you to your knees and keep you there permanently…if you let it. You or nobody ain’t never gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit…it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. If you know what you’re worth, go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit.”

LIke with my job search – when the job finally does come, it’ll be that much sweeter, I guess.