Hope and Promise

This will probably be my last blog post for awhile. A certain three-year-old has succeeded in acutely revealing my miserable failings as a mother and I can't conscientiously continue to pretend otherwise.

As dark as despair and discouragement can be, I am thankful for hope and promise, though I feel them but dimly. It just amazes me that our Sovereign Lord uses them when we least expect it.

I know there are diverse opinions regarding C.S. Lewis and his Narnian Chronicles. I'm still on the fence myself. But yesterday morning, driving back from my workout, I strangely began to think about a scene in "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" that has caused me to snicker on a few occasions.

During the coronation of Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, Aslan presents them to the Narnians with new names. But his names for them are quite contrary to their behavior throughout the story.

You see: Peter wasn't very "Magnificent", Susan was anything but "Gentle", Timid Lucy could hardly be called "Valiant", and Edmund (the defiant traitor) was definitely not "Just."

Then it hit me. Aslan wasn't looking at their past or present. He saw what he making them. He saw what they would be. And despite your views of Lewis and his books, you have to admit that this analogy holds true for every one of us that belongs to Christ.

Instead of just viewing faults and failures, our Heavenly Father sees the finished work of Christ on our behalf.

He sees what we will be.

So, while I only feel weak and miserable, He sees Strength and Beauty. I groan under the vileness and wretchedness in my soul, but He sees Grace and Glory. Oh, what a wonderful Savior!

No condemnation now I dread;

Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;

Alive in Him, my living Head,

And clothed in righteousness divine,

Bold I approach th’eternal throne,

And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

~Charles Wesley