Losing sight of Narnia
Is it possible that something so beautiful, so treasure-able, so magnificent, and so extraordinary could be forgotten in time? How?
It happened with the so-acclaimed "High Queen" Susan, one of the Pevensie siblings who stepped into Narnia, rescued the land's beings by fulfilling an old prophecy, led the country into their Golden Age and fought and won the Narnian Kingdom back to the rightful leader Prince Caspian when they returned the second time. Susan appeared as the heroine-queen in the two books of the 7-book series "The Chronicles of Narnia" by CS Lewis. So her name naturally is a byword through all Narnian creatures, who are mostly talking and walking animals. If you've read the books, you'll ask this very same question.
In the last book of the series, "The Last Battle", we find only the other three Pevensies, Peter, Edmund and Lucy going back to Narnia, this time to witness how the land is going to be restored to its original state, a land with joy and fulfillment and merry-making, by its Maker Aslan Himself. Narnia's previous kings asked for Susan, but she can't return to Narnia anymore, because she stopped believing in it. To her, Narnia was just part of their childhood imaginations, one which ought to be left behind upon growing up. Susan's eyes turned to fashion, make-ups and relationships of people her age, until she forgot the once glorious Narnia that she was part of.
We all have our own "Narnia" - those moments when everything shouldn't even have ended, when people shouldn't have said goodbye, when everybody is happy and not having a problem to think about, when every word of someone special is like "breath of life". But those moments usually don't last. It doesn't mean that they didn't happen. It's just that they don't last long. It's either we forget them over time, or we CHOOSE to do so for reasons only we can stand on.
But the Narnia days are those times when we should have been encouraged in our despair, moved in our complacency, and healed in our failing focus of what is to come, only if we choose to hope for its reality. How is it then that we can forget them as easily? For Susan, yes, Narnia can still be forgotten even after everything that has happened to her there. It happened because as what the author Lewis said, Susan simply stopped believing. She stopped hoping for the glories of Narnia. She stopped thinking of the possibility that one day she can return there. She stopped looking forward of Aslan's promise they can go back. She simply stopped loving and longing for Narnia.
For whatever parallel Susan's life has to mine, I just hope it doesn't include losing sight of “Narnia”. I hope I won't stop believing that beautiful things can still happen, broken relationships can still be restored, peace can still be attained, old friendships can still be made new, failures can still succeed. I choose to believe because I still believe in God Almighty, despite the present realities I'm in - painful, slackening, and hopeless. I still believe because only in Him, through Jesus Christ His Son, can my hopes be realized. I choose to believe, because I know how joyful, and sweet and glorious it is to be in a personal relationship with the Lord. I believe because I've been there. And if I'm not feeling joyful or hopeful today, I know I will be.
So don't stop believing. One day, it may not be tomorrow or next year, but it will come. You'll get to step into Narnia once again - the same real but healed and more beautiful Narnia. Susan didn't, but Peter, Edmund and Lucy did.
It happened with the so-acclaimed "High Queen" Susan, one of the Pevensie siblings who stepped into Narnia, rescued the land's beings by fulfilling an old prophecy, led the country into their Golden Age and fought and won the Narnian Kingdom back to the rightful leader Prince Caspian when they returned the second time. Susan appeared as the heroine-queen in the two books of the 7-book series "The Chronicles of Narnia" by CS Lewis. So her name naturally is a byword through all Narnian creatures, who are mostly talking and walking animals. If you've read the books, you'll ask this very same question.
In the last book of the series, "The Last Battle", we find only the other three Pevensies, Peter, Edmund and Lucy going back to Narnia, this time to witness how the land is going to be restored to its original state, a land with joy and fulfillment and merry-making, by its Maker Aslan Himself. Narnia's previous kings asked for Susan, but she can't return to Narnia anymore, because she stopped believing in it. To her, Narnia was just part of their childhood imaginations, one which ought to be left behind upon growing up. Susan's eyes turned to fashion, make-ups and relationships of people her age, until she forgot the once glorious Narnia that she was part of.
We all have our own "Narnia" - those moments when everything shouldn't even have ended, when people shouldn't have said goodbye, when everybody is happy and not having a problem to think about, when every word of someone special is like "breath of life". But those moments usually don't last. It doesn't mean that they didn't happen. It's just that they don't last long. It's either we forget them over time, or we CHOOSE to do so for reasons only we can stand on.
But the Narnia days are those times when we should have been encouraged in our despair, moved in our complacency, and healed in our failing focus of what is to come, only if we choose to hope for its reality. How is it then that we can forget them as easily? For Susan, yes, Narnia can still be forgotten even after everything that has happened to her there. It happened because as what the author Lewis said, Susan simply stopped believing. She stopped hoping for the glories of Narnia. She stopped thinking of the possibility that one day she can return there. She stopped looking forward of Aslan's promise they can go back. She simply stopped loving and longing for Narnia.
For whatever parallel Susan's life has to mine, I just hope it doesn't include losing sight of “Narnia”. I hope I won't stop believing that beautiful things can still happen, broken relationships can still be restored, peace can still be attained, old friendships can still be made new, failures can still succeed. I choose to believe because I still believe in God Almighty, despite the present realities I'm in - painful, slackening, and hopeless. I still believe because only in Him, through Jesus Christ His Son, can my hopes be realized. I choose to believe, because I know how joyful, and sweet and glorious it is to be in a personal relationship with the Lord. I believe because I've been there. And if I'm not feeling joyful or hopeful today, I know I will be.
So don't stop believing. One day, it may not be tomorrow or next year, but it will come. You'll get to step into Narnia once again - the same real but healed and more beautiful Narnia. Susan didn't, but Peter, Edmund and Lucy did.
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