"The Wood Between The Worlds"
One of my greatest joys is when I "stumble" upon a theme, a concept or an idea, and no matter how unrelated the happenings that follow may seem, they end up supernaturally intertwining and reveal a patchwork revelation; one I could have never conjured on my own. I absolutely love experiencing God's playful fingerprints touching my life this way.
Tonight, I began looking for inspiration in my recent pursuit of fiction writing. I've tried several times before to pick up The Chronicles of Narnia, but the books have never stuck with me. I highly admire C.S. Lewis's mind and often wish I could have shared a pipe and a conversation in an old English pub with he and Tolkein, but Narnia never grabbed me.
Tonight, I found myself plowing through "The Magician's Nephew" and came across a chapter titled, "The Wood Between The Worlds". If you have been keeping up with my recent blogging, you'll understand why this immediately gripped me. No matter how many times this sort of thing happens, it always amazes me. It fills me with wonder and strips the dead skin from my mundane experience, awakening me to rejuvenated life. I pray it always does, everyday that I live. We are created to be overtaken by wonder. We are born to be awe stricken with a beauty that calls for reverence.
Without overstating the idea, here is a passage from the book. If you are lost to what I'm talking about, look back at my previous posts and it will make sense.
(Backdrop: Two children, a boy named Digory and a girl named Polly are trying to discern the place they are in. They both had just put on magic rings that transported them to another world.)
"... I don't believe this wood is a world at all. I think it's just a sort of in-between place."
Polly looked puzzled. "Don't you see?" said Digory. "No, do listen. Think of our tunnel under the slates at home. It isn't a room in any of the houses. In a way, it isn't really part of any of the houses. But once you're in the tunnel you can go along it and come out into any of the houses in a row. Mightn't this wood be the same? - a place that isn't in any of the worlds, but once you've found that place you can get into them all."
... "And of course that explains everything," he said. "That's why it is so quiet and sleepy here. Nothing ever happens here. Like at home. It's in the houses that people talk, and do things and have meals. Nothing goes on in the in-between places, behind the walls and above the ceilings and under the floor, or in our own tunnel. But when you come out of our tunnel you may find yourself in any house. I think we can get out of this place into jolly well Anywhere! We don't need to jump back into the same pool we came up by. Or not just yet."
"The Wood between the Worlds," said Polly dreamily. "It sounds rather nice."
Wow. I'll be marinating in this for a while. Later in the chapter, they are discussing the nature of the rings that brought them to this place. (A yellow was brought them here, and a green one was to bring them back.) The chapter reads,
"The stuff in the yellow rings had the power of drawing you into the wood; it was stuff that wanted to get back to its own place, the in-between place. But the stuff in the green rings is stuff that is trying to get out of its own place: so that a green ring would take you out of the wood into a world."
I don't think I want to comment on any of the above. "The Wood between the Worlds, it sounds rather nice."
Tonight, I began looking for inspiration in my recent pursuit of fiction writing. I've tried several times before to pick up The Chronicles of Narnia, but the books have never stuck with me. I highly admire C.S. Lewis's mind and often wish I could have shared a pipe and a conversation in an old English pub with he and Tolkein, but Narnia never grabbed me.
Tonight, I found myself plowing through "The Magician's Nephew" and came across a chapter titled, "The Wood Between The Worlds". If you have been keeping up with my recent blogging, you'll understand why this immediately gripped me. No matter how many times this sort of thing happens, it always amazes me. It fills me with wonder and strips the dead skin from my mundane experience, awakening me to rejuvenated life. I pray it always does, everyday that I live. We are created to be overtaken by wonder. We are born to be awe stricken with a beauty that calls for reverence.
Without overstating the idea, here is a passage from the book. If you are lost to what I'm talking about, look back at my previous posts and it will make sense.
(Backdrop: Two children, a boy named Digory and a girl named Polly are trying to discern the place they are in. They both had just put on magic rings that transported them to another world.)
"... I don't believe this wood is a world at all. I think it's just a sort of in-between place."
Polly looked puzzled. "Don't you see?" said Digory. "No, do listen. Think of our tunnel under the slates at home. It isn't a room in any of the houses. In a way, it isn't really part of any of the houses. But once you're in the tunnel you can go along it and come out into any of the houses in a row. Mightn't this wood be the same? - a place that isn't in any of the worlds, but once you've found that place you can get into them all."
... "And of course that explains everything," he said. "That's why it is so quiet and sleepy here. Nothing ever happens here. Like at home. It's in the houses that people talk, and do things and have meals. Nothing goes on in the in-between places, behind the walls and above the ceilings and under the floor, or in our own tunnel. But when you come out of our tunnel you may find yourself in any house. I think we can get out of this place into jolly well Anywhere! We don't need to jump back into the same pool we came up by. Or not just yet."
"The Wood between the Worlds," said Polly dreamily. "It sounds rather nice."
Wow. I'll be marinating in this for a while. Later in the chapter, they are discussing the nature of the rings that brought them to this place. (A yellow was brought them here, and a green one was to bring them back.) The chapter reads,
"The stuff in the yellow rings had the power of drawing you into the wood; it was stuff that wanted to get back to its own place, the in-between place. But the stuff in the green rings is stuff that is trying to get out of its own place: so that a green ring would take you out of the wood into a world."
I don't think I want to comment on any of the above. "The Wood between the Worlds, it sounds rather nice."
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