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Recent Reading: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum

I am not going to write anything in depth or profound here, just a couple of takeaways.

First, my kids love this book. My wife has read it to them before, but this is my first time reading it. Second, the movie was more different from the book than I imagined possible. Third, I’m struck mostly in the book by how Baum portrays the humility of some of the main characters.

The Wizard himself is far from humble. He is a liar, a huckster, a shyster, and a scam artist. Yet the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, and the Lion (and Dorothy) all trust him in spite of the fact that they know this. Despite the amount of wrong that he inflicts on them, and to Dorothy most of all, they forgive him. And not only do they forgive him, they still look to him as though he had something genuine to offer them.

And while the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, and the Lion see nothing but the best in the Wizard despite his flaws, they see nothing but the worst in themselves. The Scarecrow is perhaps the brain of the group, yet he insists that he is brainless and hopeless. The Tin Woodsman is loving and merciful and kind, and a persistent crier, yet he yearns for a heart. And the Cowardly Lion is the bravest of any character in the story, all without the courage that he covets. They see the best in others, and the worst in themselves. They are poor in spirit, which makes them rich characters and eager to gain what others can give.

While it is certainly not wrong to call a con-man a con-man, we could still learn some lessons from our friends here, such as In humility count others as more significant than yourselves, and Remove the 2 x 4 out of your own eye before you try to take the toothpick out of someone else’s. If you do so, you will be a very endearing character.

Charlotte’s Web: Dr. Dorian, Miraculous Webs, Animals Talking

My daughter and I just finished reading Charlotte’s Web. It was her second time, but my first (though I’ve seen the movie several times). I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed the book. Not only is it a great and moving story, but there is gold to be mined, such as:

“Do you understand how there could be any writing in a spider’s web?”
“Oh, no,” said Dr. Dorian. “I don’t understand it. But for that matter I don’t understand how a spider learned to spin a web in the first place. When the words appeared, everyone said they were a miracle. But nobody pointed out that the web itself is a miracle.”
“What’s miraculous about a spider’s web?” said Mrs. Arable. “I don’t see why you say a web is a miracle-it’s just a web.”
“Ever try to spin one?” asked Dr. Dorian.
Mrs. Arable shifted uneasily in her chair. “No,” she replied. “But I can crochet a doily and I can knit a sock.”
“Sure,” said the doctor. “But somebody taught you, didn’t they?”
“My mother taught me.”
“Well, who taught a spider? A young spider knows how to spin a web without any instructions from anybody. Don’t you regard that as a miracle?”
“I suppose so,” said Mrs. Arable. “I never looked at it that way before. Still, I don’t understand it, and I don’t like what I can’t understand.”
“None of us do,” said Dr. Dorian, sighing. “I’m a doctor. Doctors are supposed to understand everything. But I don’t understand everything, and I don’t intend to let it worry me.”
Mrs. Arable fidgeted. “Fern says the animals talk to each other. Dr. Dorian, do you believe animals talk?”
“I never heard one say anything,” he replied. “But that proves nothing. It is quite possible that an animal has spoken civilly to me and that I didn’t catch the remark because I wasn’t paying attention. Children pay better attention than grownups. If Fern says that the animals in Zuckerman’s barn talk, I’m quite ready to believe her. Perhaps if people talked less, animals would talk more. People are incessant talkers-I can give you my word on that.”

One can’t be a Ghost in One’s Own Country (C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair)

I have always struggled with the idea of being being a bodyless soul in heaven. I don’t mean that I have struggled with it in such a way as to doubt it, or that I don’t want it. I mean that I cannot conceptualize it in my mind. It is a mystery of mysteries. But I have always encouraged myself by remembering that I’m not God, and therefore I am not capable of understanding everything (nor should I understand everything). I also encourage myself by remembering that God the Father and the Holy Spirit are pure spirit without bodies. They are, however, omnipresent, while we will never be so. 

With that said, this weekend I read something that helped. My daughter and I have just finished re-reading The Silver Chair, by C.S. Lewis, from the Chronicles of Narnia. I had many fond memories of this book going in. I considered it one of my two favorites of the Narnia series. I love the luner atmosphere of the story (the melancholy nature of Puddleglum, the constant brushes with insanity, etc). The scene of Caspian, Eustace, and Jill returning to our world ‘bright shining as the sun’ has gripped my imagination ever since first reading the story. But I discovered a few gems this time that I missed last time, and one of them handles the subject of a man in the ‘intermediate state,’ if you will. That man is Caspian.

Caspian dies in the story, but he comes to life again, in a new form of sorts, an ageless form, though he obviously remains himself, in Aslan’s country. As Eustace meets the newly risen Caspian, Lewis writes,

Eustace made a step toward him with both hands held out, but then drew back with a startled expression.

‘Look here! I say,’ he stammered. ‘It’s all very well. But aren’t you-? I mean, didn’t you-?’

‘Oh, don’t be such an ass,’ said Caspian.

‘But,’ said Eustace, looking at Aslan. ‘Hasn’t he-er-died?’

‘Yes,’ said the Lion in a very quiet voice, almost (Jill thought) as if he were laughing. ‘He has died. Most people have, you know. Even I have. There are very few who haven’t.’

‘Oh,’ said Caspian. ‘I see what’s bothering you. You think I’m a ghost, or some nonsense. But don’t you see? I would be that if I appeared in Narnia now: because I don’t belong there any more. But one can’t be a ghost in one’s own country. I might be a ghost if I got into your world. I don’t know. But I suppose it isn’t yours either, now you’re here.’

–The Silver Chair, chapter 16.

That one sentence – ‘One can’t be a ghost in one’s own country’ – rang true to me. It allowed me to imaginatively embrace something that I had struggled to comprehend. That’s the best picture of existence in heaven, outside of the Bible, that I have ever read. And I read it in a children’s story. This only goes to illustrate the point so often made by Lewis and G.K. Chesterton: the imagination is best used in seeking the truth. Lewis uses his imagination here for just that purpose.

  • Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8).

Gerd and Frey and the Victory of the Sun

My daughter and I recently read Favorite Norse Myths, by Mary Pope Osborne (who happens to be the author of the Magic Tree House books, which made this book an easy sell). It’s a beautifully written book, and her take on the ice maiden Gerd’s marriage to the sun god Frey is especially eloquant (though it seems to be a bit of an addition to the oldest versions of the tale):

Gerd was filled with cold fury when she went to the forest of Barri nine days later. The giant ice maiden could not believe she was being forced to marry the god of sunshine and rain.

But as soon as Gerd laid eyes on gentle, handsome Frey, her heart melted like the frozen ground beneath the summer sun. And as soon as she embraced him, flowers blossomed in all the fields.

– Marriage of the Ice Maiden, from Favorite Norse Myths, retold by Mary Pope Osborne, p. 57

This is a story of the spring sun overcoming the cold of winter, much like what takes place in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis. The sun always wins. This is a theme woven into the fabric of the universe.

It brings to mind a favorite quote of Jonathan Edwards I have shared before (from his sermon on John 8:12, ‘I am the Light of the World’):

Is Christ Jesus the light of the world? What glorious times will those be when all nations shall submit themselves to him, when this glorious light shall shine into every dark corner of the earth, and shall shine much more brightly and gloriously than ever before. It will be like the rising of the sun after a long night of darkness, after the thick darkness had been ruling and reigning over all nations and poor mankind had been groping about in gross darkness for many ages. When this glorious morning comes, then those that never saw light before shall see it and be astonished at its glory. Then the world, which has been in a kind of dead sleep for this many ages, shall rouse up and begin [to] open their eyes and look forth to behold this glorious light of the world; then will the sweet music of God’s praises begin to be heard.

Then will Christ say unto his spouse, as in Isaiah 60, at the beginning:

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For the Gentiles shall then come unto her light, and kings to the brightness of her rising.” Now, indeed, darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise upon his church and his glory shall be seen upon her. Then shall “the light of the moon be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold” (Isaiah 30:26). The world has had a long winter of sin and ignorance; for many ages has the Sun of Righteousness been in the Tropic of Capricorn; but when this time comes the world will enjoy a glorious spring: then holiness and God’s kingdom shall revive as the fields and trees revive in spring. Then shall the time come when all creatures shall praise the Lord, and the mountains shall break forth into singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands…

Spring and sun win, and everybody has a sense of it. Even though the sun disappears in the brightness of Christ, the sun wins, because Jesus is our greater Sun, the Light of the world.

Recent Reading: Toads and Diamonds

Toads and Diamonds is a fairy story found in Andrew Lang’s Blue Fairy Book. I always enjoy reading such stories with my children, and I’ve written about them quite a few times on the blog (see the On Fairy Stories section at the top of the page). Fairy tales are interesting on a number of levels. They are interesting because of the sheer enchantment for starters. They allow you to enter into imaginary worlds full of magic. They are also interesting because you rarely find one without finding a number of moral lessons put in terms that capture the imagination.

C.S. Lewis made the point on more than one occasion that the primary function of the well-ordered imagination is to be found in seeking after truth. One aspect of that truth is virtue. And so it is fitting that examples of, and exhortations to, virtue should be put in the form of imaginative stories.

I say all that because this is certainly a story with one such lesson. The basic plot is that the ‘fair maiden’ of the story (I’ll let you read it yourself to fill in the details) is given a gift by a fairy that causes flowers and jewels to spring from her mouth each time she speaks. Conversely, the main character’s wicked sister is cursed by the fairy so that toads and snakes issue with speech.

Our diamond girl is kind and loving and always speaks accordingly. Our toad girl is mean and cruel, and the toads and snakes correspond to her speech.

As I read this with my daughter, of course, the obvious question to ask was, ‘So, what about you – diamonds or toads?’ In some sense we are all speaking one or the other. And most of us, more likely all of us, are a mixture of both. We speak diamonds and flowers at times, and toads and snakes at others:

  • James 3:7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

It ought not to be so, and the gospel of Jesus Christ gives us the resources to change our speech. Jesus speaks to us kind words of grace. He speaks of blessing, of life, of love. He dies for the sins of our speech, and provides his Spirit in order to make new creatures, with new ways of speaking:

  • Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

If you constantly hear grace, it should constantly lead you to speak grace. If you are being built up by the gospel, then you should build others up. This is not simply a morality issue, it is an issue regarding a new creation. The old way of speaking has died, the new way of speaking has come.

And a fitting analogy for examining yourself might be, ‘am I speaking flowers and diamonds, or toads and snakes?’ If nothing else, it is certainly an imaginative way of putting the issue before children: ‘So, what you just said, was that a diamond or a toad?’

You can read the story HERE.