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Sunday, April 12, 2009

Darkness and a special voice of hope

I am rereading the Narnia stories as I do every 5-6 years. This passage is from CS Lewis' book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. My friends named their daughter God's breath after a passage and at last I think I've found it.

The children and the ship are in a darkness surrounding an island and the darkness is driving them to despair. There's an albatross flying in a shaft of light surrounded by the darkness and it lands on the prow.

..."it called out in a strong sweet voice what seemed to be words though no one understood them. ... 'Courage, dear heart', and the voice, she felt sure was Aslan's, and with the voice a delicious smell breathed in her face."

Darkness can bring paralysis but if we look and look for that glimmer of light our will is strengthened to keep going and virues grown and hope comes and a call for courage. This is the movement from Good Friday to Easter Sunday.

... we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Hope in darkness calls courage. Romans 5:3-5

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