Smells like Narnia

Many of my childhood winter evenings were spent gathered in the family room of our old farmhouse around the wood stove listening as my Dad read C.S. Lewis.  We were transported to the land of Aslan where fawns and little boys become great warriors and  daughters carried magic healing potions and became queens. . In this land I learned  lessons of grace, and mercy, of forgiveness and love that captured my heart.

Then – for many  summers,  we traveled down to Georgia to spend time with family. The best parts of these memories were the adventures we had among the Georgia pines.

Stepping into these forests I always felt like I was stepping into Narnia. Its how I imagined Narnia to smell.  The cool pine air. Its how I imagined it would feel to walk in the Narnian forest, the pine needles crunching underneath my feet and the forest floor sprinkled with pine cones and rhododendron blooms. It was in these forests that the Narnia that first captured my heart grew into a faith that would come to define me. As we frolicked and played, imagined and dreamed in these forests, I encountered God’s beauty, experiencing his revelation and glory through my senses.

            Now these forests seem almost holy to me. Here I hear God’s voice and my heart is quickened as I am drawn into his presence and captured again by lessons of grace, mercy, and love. Only now it is my dependence on him that has taught me these lessons, and I delight in the adventures that unfolds before me.