So, although I wrote the daily materials for #BigRead13, now comes the personal response … some of which may have been half-formed ideas as I picked quotes, others of which will come out of my head “in the moment”!
Today’s material for #BigRead13 focuses on “The Magician’s Nephew” – written as the prequel to the rest of the series, with obvious echoes to the Creation of the world. There’s lots of debate about which order books should be read in, but my childhood set of books labelled this as ‘Book 1’ so we went from there!
The Magician’s Nephew
It’s rare to get this feeling “every drop of blood tingled in the children’s bodies” eh, although I do love being in at the beginning of things, and so can get this buzz out of being in on ‘something new’, but I reckon this was something else. I have re-read all the books in recent weeks, and have particularly loved the reaction of the ‘cabby’ who goes onto become the first King of Narnia – makes me think a bit of Matthew 20:16.
I love the way a good bit of fiction (and/or often a photo or a painting) can give us insights into the deeper things…
Genesis 1 also describes “Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness.” which then emerges gradually (whether literally or in literary form – does it matter) – and I love hearing how Aslan “sings” Narnia into being. Genesis 1 finishes with
“God looked over everything he had made;
it was so good, so very good!”
We haven’t reached the point that we reach already in Narnia – “evil” has already entered, and Narnia has to live with the consequences til the end of time – as do we on earth.
Think: “What do you think of when you hear: Awake; Love, Think, Speak, Be?”
That’s an interesting combination of words that we’re given. God wakes us up – allows us to love (relationships), think (intellect), speak (communicate) – and I think I can do all those, but “Be” – I’m not so good at that – there’s always something else I could be doing, some way that I could be making things go better… so how am I going to get on with the fact that I’ve signed up for #NotBusy … I’m only going to challenge myself to 10 minutes, but there’s also the determination to stop saying “I’m busy” – and seeking to make better choices which means I’m not like a hamster in the wheel the whole time!
Pray: Take time to be, appreciate our world, and take steps to allow others to enjoy it.
I wrote this Tuesday evening as I was feeling inspired – so I’ll have to see what Brian Draper & @40Acts are producing tomorrow…