Wednesday, October 13, 2010

"Who are you?" He said, scarcely above a whisper.
"One who has waited long for you to speak," said the thing. Its voice was not loud, but very large and deep.
"Are you - Are you a giant?" asked Shasta.
"You might call me a giant," said the Large Voice. "But I am not like the creatures you call giants."
"I can't see you at all," said Shasta, after staring very hard.
Then (for an even more terrible idea had come into his head) he said, almost in a scream, "You're not - not something dead, are you? Oh, please - please do go away. What harm have I ever done you? Oh, I am the unluckiest person in the whole world!"

Once more he felt the warm breath of the Thing on his hands and face.
"There," it said, "that is not the breath of a ghost. Tell me your sorrows."

Shasta was a little reassured by the breath: so he told how he had never known his real father or mother and had been brought up sternly by the fisherman. And then he told the story of his escape and how they were chased by lions and forced to swim for their lives; and about all their dangers at Thashbaan and about the night among the tombs and how the beasts howled at him out of the desert. And he told about the heat and thirst of their desert journey and how they were almost at their goal when another lion chased them and wounded Aravis. And also, how very long it was since he had had anything to eat.

“I do not call you unfortunate,” said the Large Voice.

“Don’t you think it was bad luck to meet so many lions?”said Shasta.

“There was only one lion,” said the Voice.

“What on earth do you mean?”I’ve just told you there were at least two the first night, and –“

“There was only one: but he was swift of foot.”

“How do you know?”

“I was the lion.” And as Shasta gaped with open mouth and said nothing, the Voice continued. “I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.”

“Then it was you who wounded Aravis?”

“It was I.”

“But what for?”

“Child,”said the Voice, “I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no-one any story but his own.”

“Who are you?” asked Shasta.

“Myself,” said the Voice, very deep and low so that the earth shook: and again “Myself,” loud and clear and gay: and then the third time “Myself,” whispered so softly you could hardly hear it, and yet it seemed to come from all around you as if the leaves rustled with it."

-- C.S. Lewis The Horse and His Boy



I love how C.S. Lewis depicts our limitations. Shasta is convinced there is nothing that could have been "lucky" about his life, and is feeling very sorry for himself. Aslan makes him see his blindness -- that the very things that he felt were the most unfortunate of his life were really the most wonderful of all.

Sometimes I feel so blind, just like Shasta. In those moments, it really doesn't seem at all possible that anything could make this worth it, and I just wish God would let me die (very dramatic, I know -- I'm just being real! :-P). But then I have other moments that hint of something so beautiful and so full of the nearness of God, that I almost -- almost -- find myself praying that it wouldn't end. And someday I know I will see everything clearly, and I will be praising God for all the things I couldn't see to praise Him for now. I am so thankful for the grace that has allowed me to see the little bit that I do.

"I know now, Lord, why You utter no answer. You are Yourself the answer. Before Your face all questions die away. What other answer would suffice?" -- C.S. Lewis Till We Have Faces

1 comment:

  1. I love the quote where Aslan says, "I was the lion who..." Very powerful point, Sarah!

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