The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe. The first of the seven Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis. As i was sitting there in midst of the seminar on C.S Lewis by Wayne Martindale, staring at the poster in front of me, the Wardrobe caught my attention for the first time.
Why did Lewis use the title he did? the Lion and the White Witch is obvious- but the Wardrobe? I am not Lewis so i cannot speak for him. My best guess would be but a sensible conjecture. So i will not attempt to answer the question why- but rather, share my two cents worth as i think about the Wardrobe.
The Wardrobe was the window through which the children stepped into Narnia. Out of the ordinary daily life they knew, into a magical world they never imagined would exist. Breaking from the physical world, plunging them into the reality that was always existent behind the coats. Changing their status from plain Peter to King Peter riding gallantly on the white horse through the woods.
The Wardrobe- though appearing briefly at the beginning and the end as but a channel for the story to unravel, held a key. It is a place where the journey began. It is the door to an alternative reality. It is a space through which the seeker must make time to travel through. It is the divine channel given by God to a reality beyond the eyes can see.
It is that aching question about life for the unbeliever - "there must be more to life than my unsatisfactory toil... if it all ends where it ends, then for what am i doing all these?"
Take that time and walk into the wardrobe, my friend. Aslan has been waiting for you all along.
It is that desperate scamper for the christian - "i am drowning here, there is no joy, no peace, no victory, no gain at all for my pain and work."
Remember your status in Narnia my brother and sister, do not trade the eternal riches of the unseen just so you can live in pleasure for your eyes at the present time.
The Wardrobe may have been a literary gimmick, or a convenient side thought. It is my prayer that you may now come to think each time as you open your wardrobe, the Wardrobe. Into truth, into love, into victory, into safety, into rest.
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