This morning I was looking on YouTube to find some background music to play while I studied. I usually select Christian piano instrumentals by Dan Mussleman (click here for his channel)
However, this time I saw a 5-hour video with background music; it was a Chronicles of Narnia snow-covered wood theme.
Now, I eventually went back to the piano music; the Narnia music got a little repetitive after an hour. But before I did, I read a comment in the comment section. It was a quote from the 15th chapter of “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.”
“I hope no one who reads this book has been quite as miserable as Susan and Lucy were that night; but if you have been – if you’ve been up all night and cried till you have no more tears left in you – you will know that there comes in the end a sort of quietness. You feel as if nothing was ever going to happen again.” (15.8) – C. S. Lewis
When I read that quote and thought of what I was going to be doing in a little while, I realized it was a “God moment.”
I had been praying about what to share with a grieving widow. I know the Bible gives us hope and assures us that we will see our loved ones again, at least those who have put their faith in Christ. Yet, I wanted something that could specifically address the time in between…the time after the funeral…the time of adjusting…the time when things feel like they’re over, like nothing wonderful will ever happen again.
This was it! This was what I was looking for!
Susan and Lucy had just watched as Aslan has been humiliated, bound, and then stabbed to death by the White Witch. They had to listen to the rejoicing of their enemies as the beloved Lion breathed his last breath. Then, alone, they cried as time meaninglessly ticked by.
A loved one was dead. Was this the end of story? The end?
NO!
The stone table cracked! He broke the curse! Aslan was alive!
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. – Romans 6:8-9
The Recovering Legalist 
Good post, Anthony. That Aslan scene of CS Lewis’ helped me to understand so many things. Some stuff is just too painful for us to understand fully, at least on this side of heaven, but the table was broken, He is risen indeed, and joy does come in the morning.
“The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” was the first Christian fiction I ever read. It might have been the first fiction I ever read, besides children’s books. But when I did I was shocked at how Lewis took what was true and expanded my understanding of it. It was like he gave me colors to paint with that I never knew existed.
Excellent post. Thanks for sharing the new music with us, Anthony. I look forward to giving it a listen as I’m hammering out my next post. Grief is such a difficult season to endure. I have to remind myself that in His original Creation, God did not intend for us to experience loss and that in the New Creation, we will be free from the weight of grief. In the meantime, I try to learn what it is God would have me learn as I experience grief and help others walk through the same pain and heartache that I’m all too familiar with. Blessings.
Thanks 🙂
I totally agree with your assessment of God’s design: Death was not part of it. Funny thing (sorta), we are told that Jesus was crucified, that His death was determined, before the foundations of the world – before the world was made. Somewhere in the future we were bound to mess up, and He planned for that.
Ok, I’m going to be honest. If someone (especially a pastor) tried to comfort me upon the death of a loved one with Narnia, I’d lose my mind.
Hey, I did the funeral and never mentioned Aslan once 😉
Ok, I’ll give you a pass on Aslan.
And to be fair, after my son died a lady came up to me and said, “I’ve got a verse that will help you.”
I’m thinking, “Praise the Lord, because I’m dying here.”
She said, “Psalm 63:3. Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.”
I was just a few days past the tiny coffin and the sound of dirt being shoveled and at that point in my life, that specific verse didn’t help me one bit.
Oh, I could see how that might have been slightly counterproductive. Once I did the graveside service for parents who lost a son. All I could think of was the grief David felt as he cried out in his room for his sick baby, but then gathered himself together and ate. He could no longer affect (if he ever could) the situation – his son was gone. But it wasn’t the end of it! Now it was just a waiting game till David went to where his son was.
Now that, THAT was comforting at the time.
“But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? *I shall go to him*, but he shall not return to me.”
2 Samuel 12:23