The Chronicles of Narnia are my favorite books in the world. They were the first books I ever bought with my own money, when I was in 7th grade. I have read them aloud to my own children so much that they can predict the passages where I will cry while reading. Reepicheep's speech about going down with his nose pointed East. A stable that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Further in and higher up.
But most of all, where Aslan un-dragons Eustace.
Eustace, as you know, was the kid nobody liked. He wandered off while being bratty, and found a dragon's treasure cave. He fell asleep in the cave and woke up a dragon. Which was fun for a while, until it wasn't any more.
Then he tried to un-dragon himself, but he couldn't. Finally Aslan came, slashed off the dragon skin, and threw Eustace into a pool of clear water to grow a new skin.
So yesterday was Easter, and our pastor reminded us of this scripture in Romans 8:11: the power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you.
And we all just sat there.
As we often do, when the pastor says something profound.
On Easter Sunday, we're all into Christ the Lord is Risen Today, Alleluia. And the Easter lilies and new dresses and egg hunts and ham. I love all that stuff and it's a wonderful day.
But on Easter Monday, we wake up to the same job and the same marriage and the same crazy relatives and the same problems we had during Holy Week. And the power that raised Jesus from the dead seems like...honestly, not much.
So here's an important thing I learned a few years back. When I look at scripture and it says cool stuff and I look at my life and I see that my life doesn't match up to the cool stuff that scripture says, then the problem is not with the cool stuff in scripture, but with me.
And the problem I think I have with the power that raised Jesus from the dead is that I would like to tame it. I want to control it. I don't want it to come in and make too much of a mess. I want to keep it clean around here.
C.S. Lewis says this about Aslan, "He is not a tame lion."
He will slash you open if he has to. We know that this is true.
And I would prefer to un-dragon myself, thank you very much.
And so, the power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in me. Little and stunted and squashed down into a corner, I think. Because I am afraid of what it will do if I invite it to be what it really is.