“…and the deepest, wildest voice they had ever heard was saying: ‘Narnia, Narnia, awake. Love. Think. Speak. Be walking trees. Be talking beasts. Be divine waters.'” –The Magician’s Nephew, CS Lewis 

Why can’t we just escape to Narnia, to see it from the beginning, to take in the magic of animals being birthed from the ground and trees sprouting up from nothing?

I’d give anything to actually touch the soft and rugged fur on Aslan’s back, these stories mean so much to me.

We started with the first book, the boys and I, and we’ve barely been able to put it down.

When you dream and imagine with a toddler, every world you enter into becomes magical and new and all-compassing.

I’ve needed that, needed space to dream in another world and remember what is good, remember what is holy, let that sink back into my own world here.

We live where things are dangerous and holy, good and evil, bright and dark.

And when I’m having a hard time understanding the difference, characters like Aslan and Digory and Polly and Strawberry the horse remind me that hope just carries the weight of the world somehow.

So today, I’ll rest, and I’ll let Lent be Lent, and I’ll go to a park and play with my boys and enjoy community and let an early spring give us life.

Hallelujah for a world like Narnia and a world like ours, and the way they mingle with each other every now and then.