Those Lucy Moments...

Well, to those of you who have not yet seen Narnia, I hereby release you from any sense of obligation you may have felt for reading this blog. If you've at least read the book, you may proceed at your leisure. Actually, what I've got to say doesn't involve character sketches, plot summaries, or scathing critiques of the movie itself, but rather on those particular points in the action that draw us out of ourselves and into what Wordsworth would call 'the eye of Nature', or what I'd like to call those 'Lucy moments'. These little flashes of light occur throughout the movie, most particuarly when Lucy steps into the wardrobe and out of this world. The wonder that ignites her eye when she first steps into the snow-clad forest of Narnia is priceless, and it should remind us of the glory of our first steps here on earth. Of all the children, she is the one who takes Narnia at face value - because of her faith, her grasp of its reality is strongest. It is also the motivating force behind the other children's decision to accept the huge responsibility laid before them.
I guess what I'm getting at with this ramble is that we need to cultivate and foster those 'Lucy moments' that too often pass us by. A healthy wonder, combined with a solid faith, keep us sane and even happy. And one doesn't have to keel over into the Romantic abyss in order to do so, though it is fun to fall in sometimes. Take, for instance, my airplane ride home. Now that's an adventure in itself, if one chooses to see it as such. This must be like my 20th time in the air, but the feeling one gets when the giant bucket of bolts kisses the runway goodbye never gets old. Once the clouds have been usurped and the glorious horizon appears, one can't help but whisper 'Lord, have mercy' and wonder if we were really meant to see the world from 30,000 feet. After a while, the moon and stars shyly make their entrance with crystal clarity, and the clouds below take on a strange orange glow from the living cities underneath. After a period of dozing, I wake to find the clouds gone and little veins of shining ore glimmering on the dark land under me - towns! Long stretches of what looks like ghostly lakes become clear under the winter moon - fields of snow! And, as the plane neared Chicago, we skirted over the city and cold Lake Michigan, and it looked like one of the corners of the world. The exhilaration became too much for me, and I motioned and pointed my fellow travelers to look out the window - "Look!" I exclaimed. "The Empire State Building!" as we flew over the largest structure in the city. Well, I never said that the sublime state of wonder was ever conducive to getting your facts straight, and if your superior logic does not lead you to my grave error, let me just say that I think I've watched 'An Affair to Remember' one too many times. Needless to say, this heightened enthusiasm and gigantic gratefulness pursued me all the way home, until I was corrected by my brother on a little matter of geography. However, I did not cease to be the object of amusement and delight for at least three days together - and if this isn't the greatest consequence of wonder, I don't know what is! Misnomers are wonderful and mysterious things, and help us see our own world afresh - the sky is quite an expected thing until you are made a foreigner there, and your own cozy bedroom at home is nothing until you discover the land of "Spare-Oom".