Narnia

I watched the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe tonight. Strange thing seemed to happen. As the movie was starting, I got an overwhelming impression that watching this movie would impact my life immensely and I better pay attention. I proceeded to forget all about this feeling as the movie progressed, but I was, of course, paying attention. Then it happened. They were talking about hope and good stuff like that, and Aslan mentions "deep magic." I was suddenly struck, at these words, with a sense of profundity I had never placed on them before. I had read the book and seen the PBS specials (horrible things I wish I could erase from my head) as a child and had always merely thought of it as a fantasy world type of thing. As if God had created Narnia with a little more magic and wonder than he did our own world. But it strikes me now that no Christians I know really believe strongly in magic. Sure, they believe in evil powers that work in this world and maybe even charms and spells are somehow connected to them. But how often do we think of the magic with which this world was created and put into place.

It's hard for me to really say what this idea does for me, or really how it does it. But I feel a sense of restoration in the way I view the world. Like it has restored my faith in the foundation of the very fabric of existence, in which is all the goodness, beauty, love, and joy with which God created the world itself. This "deep magic", the magic of love and hope and faith, really does go deeper than spells and charms, deeper than machinations, deeper than the wisdom and heroism of this world. To think that there is something powerful and amazing, wonderful and holy, at the very core of life and existence. To think that the breath of God really does work wonders in the world. To think that hope and faith and love work a magic that is groundbreaking, revolutionary, and entirely marvelous. These things satisfy my soul and sing to my spirit, songs of bliss and peace like I have not known.

Also let me add a side note. It may seem very weird for me to just suddenly think that some movie, however wonderful and brilliant the story, is really going to change my life, especially a story that I've heard before. But strange to say, I have had dreams about Narnia in the past month, which have been... well, not exactly meaningful in a way that I could extrapolate anything close to what I have done in the two previous paragraphs, but nonetheless quite poignant. This is, of course, not to say that anything really adds up to anything, or that I have the understanding enough to measure all of these events accurately, but perhaps they are like signs. One must learn to pay attention to the messages life throws at you. After all, the deep magic from before the dawn of time resides in the very fabric of that life. From now on, I will not only dream of, but will believe in magic.