Friday, April 29, 2011

Birthday Days


Well, I'm 29 ~ the last year of my 20s! *sob* But it sure was a birthday day to remember! We had a major wind storm, and had no power for 12 hours! It kinda put a wrench in some plans, but I made the most of the day and had a great one. I got to have breakfast with my aunt, and then a very nice visit with my cousin/best friend. Then, my parents came out in the evening with dinner. Such troopers ~ they actually waited for a whole hour just to get a pizza so we could have a fun birthday dinner!
Today I continued celebrating with 2 of my friends, and went out for dessert (yum!). And tomorrow the festivities still continue with a family get-together at my aunt & uncle's!
Gotta love birthdays! Well, the fun celebrations with friend and family at least... not so much the getting older part.

Here are some pictures from the past couple of days...

Mom and Maria both made yummy cupcakes!

My mom's pretty pink & sparkly cupcakes

A super cute present from Maria ~ a bucket of gardening stuff!

More from Maria ~ "Jane Austen's Guide to Good Manners," a biography of Beatrix Potter, and a fantastic magazine called "English Homes" (a new favourite!)

Mulligan loved Maria's bag! 

He also loved her hair!

My lovely wrapped present from Mom & Dad

Awesome new perfume (Burberry Sport), and my favourite chocolate bar! 

My funny card from Maria, and my cute new bowls from Ingrid

My best friend came with her daughter, and Mulligan absolutely loved her! I think the feeling was mutual! 

Relaxing on Em's blanket

My super yummy chocolate fudge cake from Fresco's! 

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Good Ol' Music

One of my favourite CDs to put on is a mix I made a long time ago of my favourite classic songs. When I say classic, I just mean "older" ~ from the 20s & 30s. There's something about those songs that put me in a good mood! I was reading my cousin/friend's blog yesterday and she mentioned putting on a record of swing music, and that made me crave listening to some of these great old songs. I found some of my favourites online and posted them in here, so if you feel like listening, have a go! Enjoy!
[*note: If you press 'play' and it says 'error,' just press 'play' again and it should work. Also if there's a message with "allow" or "deny" just press "deny"]





Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better ~ Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
This is one of my very favourites! I love Bing Crosby of course, and the "bickering" between him and the others in this song is just so funny

~~~~~~~~~~~




Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny ~ The Andrews Sisters
My other favourite of the Andrews Sisters. 


Chattanooga Choo-Choo ~ The Andrews Sisters
A very well-known one by the Andrews Sisters... it's so catchy!
~~~~~~~~~~~





When You're Smiling ~ Billie Holiday
I love lots of her stuff, but this is one of my favourites

~~~~~~~~~~~





You're the Top ~ James Gillan
This is a cover of the original song written by Cole Porter in the 30s. It's been covered by a lot of people, but I liked this version, from the Easy Virtue soundtrack.




When The Going Gets Tough The Tough Get Going ~ Jessica Biel, Andy Caine, Ben Barnes, Colin Firth
Another one from the Easy Virtue soundtrack. It's not an old song, but I love the trumpets and piano in it (it makes it sound classic), and for some reason like the whole introduction of the Easy Virtue Band in the middle... it's just a fun song. 

~~~~~~~~~~~




I Enjoy Being A Girl ~ Doris Day
It's not swing or anything, but it is my favourite Doris Day song! It's just so cute!

Monday, April 25, 2011

A bit of silliness...

I was going through photos on my computer, and found these little works of art that I had done quite a while ago. I made them for my friend Katie, who loves these Dorothy Parker quotes, which really are pretty funny. So I found pictures that sort of matched the quotes, and made these:

[my favourite]


[hahaha!]






Saturday, April 23, 2011

The Importance of Being Earnest


Movie recommendation of the week ~ The Importance of Being Earnest.

This is a bit of an older movie (2002), but it is just so funny that the story is quite timeless. It's based on a play by Oscar Wilde. Set in 1890s London, the story revolves around 4 main characters: John [Jack] Worthing, Algernon [Algy] Moncrieff, Gwendolen Fairfax, and Cecily Cardew.

Jack Worthing lives in the country where he takes care of his ward, Cecily. But he often has to go to the city to take care of problems created by his brother, Ernest. The thing about Ernest, however, is that he doesn't exist, and is just an excuse Jack uses to go to the city whenever he feels like it. On top of this, in the city he is known to all of his friends as Ernest Worthing... so, Jack in the country, Ernest in the city.
Ernest/Jack wants to marry Gwendolen (who thinks his name is Ernest), but her mother won't allow it due to the fact that Ernest/Jack's background is so sketchy (his parents are unknown, as he was found as a baby in a handbag at a train station).
Gwendolen is the cousin of Algernon, who is also a friend of Jack's. Algernon also thinks Jack's name is Ernest, but soon discovers the whole Jack/Ernest story. When he hears about Cecily, he decides he wants to meet her. Now, Algernon also has a made-up person in his life, called Bunbury ~ a very sick friend in the country, who tends to always coincidentally needs Algernon to help him at the times his aunt throws dinner parties. With this excuse, Algernon takes off to the country, but goes to Jack's house instead.
Arriving at Jack's place, he tells everyone he is Jack's troublesome brother, Ernest Worthing. Cecily ends up falling in love with Ernest/Algernon; and in the meantime, Gwendolen decides to disobey her mother, and comes to see Ernest/Jack regardless of her mother's disapproval.
I'm sure you can guess what happens... Gwendolen and Cecily discover that neither men are Ernest, and in fact, there is no Ernest at all!

Ernest/Jack and Ernest/Algy


It is, overall, quite a hilarious movie. Colin Firth as Jack/Ernest is fantastic ~ he is so funny! And Rupert Everett plays Algernon, and is just as funny. Reese Witherspoon is really cute as Cecily, and the movie also includes Judi Dench and Frances O'Connor.
There's a really fun wit to the whole story, which makes it ridiculous and lovable at the same time. And another bonus is that the costumes are great! (especially Cecily's dresses) It's a light-hearted, clean, funny, just plain good movie; which is why I recommend it!

Gwendolen and Cecily


~~~~~~~~~~~~



Trailer:


A funny scene where Colin and Rupert show off their musical abilities:

Friday, April 22, 2011

Sunday's Coming


It’s Friday: Jesus is praying, Peter’s a sleeping, Judas is betraying

But Sunday’s comin’
It’s Friday: Pilate’s struggling, The council is conspiring, The crowd is vilifying
They don’t even know, That Sunday’s comin’
It’s Friday: The disciples are running, Like sheep without a shepherd, Mary’s crying, Peter is denying
But they don’t know, That Sunday’s a comin’
It’s Friday: The Romans beat my Jesus, They robe Him in scarlet, They crown him with thorns
But they don’t know, That Sunday’s comin’
It’s Friday: See Jesus walking to Calvary, His blood dripping, His body stumbling, And His spirit’s burdened
But you see, it’s only Friday ~ Sunday’s comin’
It’s Friday: The world’s winning, People are sinning, And evil’s grinning
It’s Friday: The soldiers nail my Savior’s hands to the cross, They nail my Savior’s feet to the cross, And then they raise Him up next to criminals
It’s Friday, But let me tell you something ~ Sunday’s comin’
It’s Friday: The disciples are questioning, What has happened to their King, And the Pharisees are celebrating
that their scheming has been achieved
But they don’t know, It’s only Friday ~ Sunday’s comin’
It’s Friday: He’s hanging on the cross, Feeling forsaken by His Father, Left alone and dying, Can nobody save Him?
It’s Friday, But Sunday’s comin’
It’s Friday: The earth trembles, The sky grows dark, My King yields His spirit
It’s Friday: Hope is lost, Death has won, Sin has conquered, and Satan’s just a laughing
It’s Friday: Jesus is buried, A soldier stands guard, And a rock is rolled into place
But it’s Friday, It is only Friday ~
Sunday is a comin’!







Thursday, April 21, 2011

Dorian Gray


When I was in high school I read the book The Picture of Dorian Gray, and after reading the book, I watched the movie of it (1945 version, with Hurd Hatfield, Donna Reed and Angela Lansbury). I’ve always thought it was one of the most interesting and intriguing stories. A couple of years ago a new movie version was released, which piqued my interest; but I ended up only being able to watch maybe a total of 1/3 of the movie because it was just too vulgar and awful. Nonetheless, the story is still so interesting, and I really think it’s an incredibly deep piece of writing. It was the only novel that Oscar Wilde wrote, but it sure was an impacting one. To me, it shows in a clear way what sin does to our life. And though countless people try to ignore sin, in the end it is there and we will have to account for it. In the story, when you see the sheer ugliness of sin and know that Dorian will have to bear it in the end, it’s somewhat terrifying. It makes you think all the more of how impossible it is for us to pay for our sin on our own.

The story also shows how easy it is for a person to be influenced by others; how easy it is to give in to temptation; and how slippery that slope is once you do give in.

Dorian came to London a naïve young man. He had a conscience and had concern about his actions and his soul. A friend and painter, Basil Hallward, is struck by Dorian’s flawlessness and decides to paint his portrait. Through Basil, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, who becomes the biggest and most destructive influence in Dorian’s life. Henry envies Dorian because he has “the only two things worth having:  youth, and beauty.” Henry also has his own ideas of what life ought to be, and shares those thoughts constantly with Dorian in every situation. It’s these little comments which take root and begin to infect Dorian so much.
There’s no shame in pleasure, Mr. Gray. Man just wants to be happy. But society wants him to be good. And when he’s good, man is rarely  happy”.... .... “The truth, Mr. Gray, is that every impulse we strangle only poisons us; The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it”... ... “Forbid yourself nothing. Nobody at all need know.”

When Basil reveals his painting of Dorian, Dorian is enamoured by it. “Is that really what I look like?” Henry comments that he does, but he won’t always. The painting will always look like that, but Dorian won’t—he will age, lose his youth and beauty. On a whim they talk (almost without really meaning it) about making a trade: youth and beauty forever, for the price of their soul. Give the painting his soul so that it will age, but his body won’t. Dorian would never do that, would he? “Yes, I would,” he replies in earnest. And so begins the story.

When Dorian realizes that what they talked about has really happened—that the painting was taking on his flaws and sins, he feels liberated to do whatever he wants, with no conscience, no responsibility, and no hesitation. With the persuasion and encouragement of Lord Henry, Dorian realizes that lust and looks are where his life is headed and he needs nothing else. Power, greed, vanity, deceit, murder, lust, gluttony—Dorian lives it all.

However, in time, as he sees the painting getting more and more vulgar, he becomes all too aware of the affects of his actions even though his appearance shows no sign of it; the painting bears it all. He’s haunted by it all, and is desperate to escape his past.  “I want to be free; I want to be new... clean; I want to be good. Please. Please, you have to help me,” he begs a priest. “This is not my true face. If you could see my soul...” The priest interrupts him, saying that only God can see a man’s soul. “I have seen my soul,” Dorian insists. “It’s rotten. It stinks. It’s poison.”

He finally sees the truth, and is so haunted by it that he tries to destroy it. As he slashes the painting with a knife, the hideousness of the portrait becomes his own face again. The painting resumes its original form, as his deceased body becomes what was on the portrait.  

[Dorian and his portrait, at the beginning]

[Hurd Hatfield as Dorian, in the 1945 movie version
viewing his portrait as it changes over time]

As you can see, it’s quite a deep and perhaps even somewhat disturbing story. But it’s the underlying truths in it that are so blatant. Trying to live how we want to live; trying to get away with things, deceiving ourselves into thinking nobody will know (God does!); trying to make excuses; etc, etc. And as we see in the very end of the story, trying to change ourselves. Dorian says to Henry in the end, “I was trying so hard to be a better man.” But he just couldn’t. No matter what he did, no matter how good he was, he couldn’t get rid of the ugliness of the past on his own. 

The whole story is such an interesting allegory of the affect of sin. I don’t know if Oscar Wilde even realized the truth in what he was writing. Because of course we can’t just simply be good on our own and wipe out our past sins. But what Wilde didn’t know at the time he was writing this, was that even though we can’t do it on our own, it doesn’t mean it can’t be done at all.
At the end of Wilde’s life, it’s said that he repented and became a believer on his deathbed. I really hope that’s true. Wilde was so much like Dorian, and though in the story Dorian found no peace and no salvation, what a great ending it would be if Wilde truly did. 
Because of this book, when I think of the ugliness of sin, I can’t help but remember that even though we don’t see our sin physically, God sees our sin. And as Dorian stood before his portrait and saw the hideousness of his sins, so God sees our sin. He can’t abide sin; it can’t be where He is. If he looked at us and saw us as awfully tainted as that portrait, we’d have no hope whatsoever. I am so thankful, a million times over, that when those in Christ stand before God, he doesn’t see a hideous portrait of us—rather, he sees us as sinless, because Christ took those heinous sins from us, and gave us his spotless robe instead. Now that’s a beautiful ending! 

Dear Jack...



I’ve been reading a great book called Finding God in the Land of Narnia, and I’ve really enjoyed learning more about C.S. Lewis as I’ve been reading it. I had sort of assumed that Lewis was raised in a Christian home and had been a dedicated Christian all his life ~ seeing as how he’s known as one of the most influential theologians of our time. Well, I was wrong. He was raised in a church-going family, but he became an atheist when he was 15. (side note: I thought it was kind of funny how later, he described his young self as being paradoxically “very angry with God for not existing.”)
His biography on Wikipedia explains his time as an atheist:
“His early separation from Christianity began when he started to view his religion as a chore and as a duty; around this time, he also gained an interest in the occult, as his studies expanded to include such topics. Lewis quoted Lucretius (De rerum natura, 5.198–9) as having one of the strongest arguments for atheism:
Nequaquam nobis divinitus esse paratam
Naturam rerum; tanta stat praedita culpa
"Had God designed the world, it would not be
A world so frail and faulty as we see."
Lewis's interest in the works of George MacDonald was part of what turned him from atheism. This can be seen particularly well through this passage in Lewis's The Great Divorce, chapter nine, when the semi-autobiographical main character meets MacDonald in Heaven:
...I tried, trembling, to tell this man all that his writings had done for me. I tried to tell how a certain frosty afternoon at Leatherhead Station when I had first bought a copy of Phantastes (being then about sixteen years old) had been to me what the first sight of Beatrice had been to Dante: Here begins the new life. I started to confess how long that Life had delayed in the region of imagination merely: how slowly and reluctantly I had come to admit that his Christendom had more than an accidental connexion with it, how hard I had tried not to see the true name of the quality which first met me in his books is Holiness.

"Lewis slowly re-embraced Christianity, influenced by arguments with his Oxford colleague and friend J. R. R. Tolkien, and by the book The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton. He fought greatly up to the moment of his conversion, noting that he was brought into Christianity like a prodigal, "kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance to escape."  He described his last struggle in Surprised by Joy:
You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.
After his conversion to theism in 1929, Lewis converted to Christianity in 1931, following a long discussion and late-night walk with his close friends Tolkien and Hugo Dyson."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[A statue of Digory Kirke from The Magician's Nephew) in front of the wardrobe of his book 
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in East Belfast, Northern Ireland]

As for the Christian message in the Narnia books, the introduction to the book I’m currently reading notes what Lewis himself thought about that:
“Lewis himself debunked the idea that his tales are mere Christian allegory, explaining that the Christian truths pushed their way into the story on their own. His theology was part of him, so it became part of what he created—like air bubbling to the water’s surface:
‘Some people seem to think that I began by asking myself how I could say something about Christianity to children; then fixed on the fairy tale as an instrument; then collected information about child-psychology and decided what age group I’d write for; then drew up a list of basic Christian truths and hammered out ‘allegories’ to embody them. This is all pure moonshine. I couldn’t write in that way at all. Everything began with images; a faun carrying an umbrella, a queen on a sledge, a magnificent lion. At first there wasn’t anything Christian about them; that element pushed itself in of its own accord. It was part of the bubbling.’

It is also explained that the Narnia series isn’t an allegory at all... “Rather they grow out of a central supposition. Suppose there existed another world peopled by animals rather than human beings. Suppose that world fell, like ours, and had in it some equivalent of Christ. Aslan entered Narnia in the form of a lion just as Jesus came into this world in the form of a man. Based upon this supposition, Lewis created a fantasy world that depicts the central theme of our real world—redemption through the incarnate God’s death and resurrection. The magical part is that this mythical Christ somehow draws us ever deeper to the Real.
There is no doubt that C.S. Lewis hoped his Narnia tales would draw readers toward a deeper love of Jesus. In fact, none other than Aslan himself tells us so. At the conclusion of the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Lucy and Edmund encountered a lamb inviting the children to share breakfast. Hoping to see the great Lion, Lucy asked the Lamb whether they were on the path to Aslan’s country. “Not for you,” replied the Lamb. “For you the door into Aslan’s country is from your own world.” Edmund expressed shock, surprised to hear that there might be a way into Aslan’s country from his own world. So he asked the Lamb if such a way existed, thrilled by the possibility yet cautious—worried that he might have misunderstood.
Suddenly, the gentle lamb transfigured into the great Lion. “There is a way into my country from all the worlds.”
It was Aslan himself. The joyous embrace of reunion quickly dissolved into sad realization that it was time for Lucy and Edmund to leave Narnia and go home. Eager to know when they might get to come back, hoping it would be very soon, Lucy learned that she would never return. She was too old and must begin to draw close to her own world. And while she would miss Narnia, her real sorrow was the thought of never meeting Aslan again.
“But you shall meet me, dear one,” he reassured. “But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I also loved reading a couple of these stories about letters written to Lewis, and his replies to them:

Letter 1:
“In June of 1953, an eleven-year-old girl named Hila an awakening while reading the Narnia stories—an experience she later described as “an indefinable stirring and longing.” She wrote to C.S. Lewis, inquiring about this ‘other name’ Aslan suggested. She, like Edmund, wanted to know the way into Aslan’s country from our world. Lewis replied:
“As to Aslan’s other name, well I want you to guess. Has there never been anyone in this world who (1.) Arrived at the same time as Father Christmas. (2.) Said he was the son of the Great Emperor. (3.) Gave himself up for someone else’s fault to be jeered at and killed by wicked people. (4.) Came to life again... Don’t you really know His name in this world?”



 Letter 2: 
“In May of 1955, the mother of a nine-year-old boy named Laurence wrote to C.S. Lewis, explaining that Laurence was concerned that he loved Aslan more than Jesus. To her delighted surprise, she received a reply ten days later that included the following:
“Laurence can’t really love Aslan more than Jesus, even if he feels that’s what he is doing. For the things he loves Aslan for doing or saying are simply the things Jesus really did and said. So that when Laurence thinks he is loving Aslan, he is really loving Jesus: and perhaps loving Him more than he ever did before.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


And, last but not least, my favourite quote from C.S. Lewis about prayer:


"I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time- waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God- it changes me."


Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Magician's Nephew


When doing "The Bible in Narnia" stuff, I left The Magician's Nephew til last, and am finally done. This book, though written halfway through the series, is actually the prequel to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. In it, we see Aslan creating Narnia, evil entering Narnia, etc. It's a book chock full of biblical parallels! I did some of the sections that I enjoyed reading the most, but there's so much more that could have been paralleled.
A sort of exciting thing about this book is that it's currently being looked at to be made into the next Narnia movie of the series! It's between this and The Silver Chair, but it looks like The Magician's Nephew is the lead choice. It'll be so cool to see how they do some of this stuff on film. I just hope they continue to keep the biblical parallels as obvious as they did in the others.

Anyway, so now the very last of "The Bible in Narnia" ~
The Magician's Nephew:





“Oughtn’t we to be nearly there now?”
“We do seem to be somewhere,” said Digory. “At least I’m standing on something solid.”
“Why, so am I, now that I come to think of it,” said Polly. “But why’s it so dark? I say, do you think we got into the wrong Pool?”
“Perhaps this is Charn,” said Digory. “Only we’ve got back in the middle of the night.”
“This is not Charn,” came the Witch’s voice. “This is an empty world. This is Nothing.”
And really it was uncommonly like Nothing. There were no stars. It was so dark that they couldn’t see one another at all and it made no difference whether you kept your eyes shut or opened. Under their feet there was a cool, flat something which  might have been earth, and was certainly not grass or wood. The air was cold and dry and there was no wind.

... In the darkness something was happening at last. A voice had begun to sing. It was very far away and Digory found it hard to decide from what direction it was coming. Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once. Sometimes he almost thought it was coming out of the earth beneath them. Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself. There were no words. There was hardly even a tune. But it was beyond comparison, the most beautiful noise he had ever heard. It was so beautiful  he could hardly bear it... Then two wonders happened at the same moment. One was that the voice was suddenly joined by other voices; more voices than you could possibly count. They were in harmony with it, but far higher up the scale: cold, tingling, silvery voices. The second wonder was that the blackness overhead, all at once, was blazing with stars. They didn’t come out gently one by one, as they do on a summer evening. One moment there had been nothing but darkness; next moment a thousand, thousand points of light leaped out—single stars, constellations, and planets, brighter and bigger than any in our world.

...And now something else was happening. Far away, and down near the horizon, the sky began to turn gray. A light wind, very fresh, began to stir. The sky in that one place, grew slowly and steadily paler. You could see shapes of hills standing up dark against it. All the time the Voice went on singing.

... The eastern sky changed from white to pink and from pink to gold. The Voice rose and rose, till all the air was shaking with it. And just as it swelled to the mightiest and most glorious sound it had yet produced, the sun arose. ... Southward there were mountains, northward there were lower hills. But it was a valley of mere earth, rock and water; there was not a tree, not a bush, not a blade of grass to be seen. The earth was of many colours; they were fresh, hot and vivid. They made you feel excited; until you saw the Singer himself, and then you forgot everything else.
It was a Lion. Huge, shaggy, and bright, it stood facing the rising sun...

... Can you imagine a stretch of grassy land bubbling like water in a pot? For that is really the best description of what was happening. In all directions it was swelling into humps. They were of very different sizes, some no bigger than molehills, some as big as wheelbarrows, two the size of cottages. And the humps moved and swelled until they burst, and the crumbled earth poured out of them, and from each hump there came out an animal... Showers of birds came out of the trees. Butterflies fluttered. Bees got to work on the flowers as if they hadn’t a second to lose... And now you could hardly hear the song of the Lion; there was so much cawing, cooing, crowing, braying, neighing, baying, barking, lowing, bleating, and trumpeting. But though Digory could no longer hear the Lion, he could see it. It was so big and bright that he could not take his eyes off it.

(Genesis 1:2a; Genesis 1: 3-4; Genesis 1:14-18; Genesis 1: 20-21; Genesis 1: 24-25; Genesis 2:1; Genesis 2: 5-6)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was soon light enough for them to see one another’s faces. The Cabby and the two children had open mouths and shining eyes; they were drinking in the sound, and they looked as if it reminded them of something. Uncle Andrew’s mouth was open too, but not open with joy. He looked more as if his chin had simply dropped away from the rest of his face. His shoulders were stooped and his knees shook. He was not liking the Voice. If he could have got away from it by creeping into a rat’s hole, he would have done so. But the Witch looked as if, in a way, she understood the music better than any of them. Her mouth was shut, her lips were pressed together, and her fists were clenched. Ever since the song began she had felt that this whole world was filled with a Magic different from hers and stronger. She hated it. She would have smashed that whole world, or all worlds, into pieces, if it would only stop the singing.

... When you listened to his song you heard the things he was making up: when you looked round you, you saw them. This was so exciting that [Polly] had no time to be afraid. But Digory and the Cabby could not help feeling a bit nervous as each turn of the Lion’s walk brought him nearer. As for Uncle Andrew, his teeth were chattering, but his knees were shaking so that he could not run away.

(Joshua 2:11; Job 4:14; James 2:19; Luke 23:30; Isaiah 14:13-15)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are.
Ever since the animals had first appeared, Uncle Andrew had been shrinking further and further back into the thicket. He watched them very hard of course; but he wasn’t really interested in seeing what they were doing, only in seeing whether they were going to make a rush at him... He simply didn’t notice that Aslan was choosing one pair out of every kind of beasts. All he saw, or thought he saw, was a lot of dangerous wild animals walking vaguely about.
When the great moment came and the Beasts spoke, he missed the whole point; for a rather interesting reason. When the Lion had first begun singing, long ago when it was still quite dark, he had realized that they noise was a song. And he had disliked the song very much. It made him think and feel things he did not want to think and feel. Then, when the sun rose and he saw that they singer was a lion (“only a lion,” as he said to himself) he tried his hardest to make believe that it wasn’t singing and never had been singing—only roaring as any lion might do in a zoo in our own world. ... And the longer and more beautiful the Lion sang, the harder Uncle Andrew tried to make himself believe that he could hear nothing but roaring. ... He soon did hear nothing but roaring in Aslan’s song. Soon he couldn’t have heard anything else even if he had wanted to. And when at last the Lion spoke and said, “Narnia awake,” he didn’t hear any words: he heard only a snarl. And when the Beasts spoke in answer, he heard only barkings, growlings, bayings, and howlings. And when they laughed—well, you can imagine. That was the worse for Uncle Andrew than anything that had happened yet. Such a horrid, bloodthirsty din of hungry and angry brutes he had never heard in his life.

... “He [uncle Andrew] thinks great folly, child,” said Aslan. “This world is bursting with life for these few days because the song with which I called it into life still hangs in the air and rumbles in the ground. It will not be so for long. But I cannot tell that to this old sinner, and I cannot comfort him either; he has made himself unable to hear my voice. If I spoke to him, he would hear only growlings and roarings.”

(Isaiah 59:2; Jeremiah 5:21; Ezekiel 12:2; Matthew 13:13; John 8:47; Romans 11:8; Psalm 81:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:11)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...Digory slipped off the horse and found himself face to face with Aslan. And Aslan was bigger and more beautiful and more brightly golden and more terrible than he had thought. He dared not look into the great eyes.
... “This is the Boy,” said Aslan, looking, not at Digory, but at his councillors. “This is the Boy who did it.”
“Oh dear,” thought Digory, “what have I done now?”
“Son of Adam,” said the Lion. “There is an evil Witch abroad in my new land of Narnia. Tell these good Beasts how she came here.”
A dozen different things that he might say flashed through Digory’s mind, but he had the sense to say nothing except the exact truth.
“I brought her, Aslan,” he answered in a low voice.
“For what purpose?”
“I wanted to get her out of my own world back into her own. I thought I was taking her back to her own place.”
“How came she to be in your world, Son of Adam?”
“By—by Magic.”
The Lion said nothing and Digory knew that he had not told enough.
“It was my Uncle, Aslan,” he said. “He sent us out of our own world by magic rings, at least I had to go because he sent Polly first, and then we met the Witch in a place called Charn and she just held on to us when—“
“You met the Witch?” said Aslan in a low voice which had the threat of a growl in it.
“She woke up,” said Digory wretchedly. And then, turning very white, “I mean, I woke her. Because I wanted to know what would happen if I struck a bell. Polly didn’t want to. It wasn’t her fault. I—I fought her. I know I shouldn’t have. I think I was a bit enchanted by the writing under the bell.”
“Do you?” asked Aslan; still speaking very low and deep.
“No,” said Digory. “I see now I wasn’t. I was only pretending.”
... “You see, friends, [Aslan] said, “that before the new, clean world I gave you is seven hours old, a force of evil has already entered it; waked and brought higher by this son of Adam.” The Beasts, even Strawberry, all turned their eyes on Digory till he felt that he wished the ground would swallow him up. “But do not be cast down,” said Aslan, still speaking to the Beasts. “Evil will come of that evil, but it is still a long way off, and I will see to it that the worst falls upon myself.”

(Romans 5:12; Romans 5:14; Romans 5:16-19; 1 Corinthians 15:22)

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“Son,” said Aslan to the Cabby, “I have known you long. Do you know me?”
“Well, no, sir,” said the Cabby. “Leastways, not in an ordinary manner of speaking. Yet I feel somehow, if I may make so free, as ‘ow we’ve met before.”
“It is well,” said the Lion. “You know better than you think you know, and you shall live to know me better yet.”
... Aslan threw up his shaggy head, opened his mouth, and uttered a long, single note; not very loud, but full of power. Polly’s heart jumped in her body when she heard it. She felt sure that it was a call, and that anyone who heard that call would want to obey it and (what’s more) would be able to obey it, however many worlds and ages lay between. ...
... “My children,” said Aslan, fixing his eyes on both of them, “you are to be the first King and Queen of Narnia.”
The Cabby opened his mouth in astonishment, and his wife turned very red.
“You shall rule and name all these creatures, and do justice among them, and protect them from their enemies when enemies arise.” 
... “Well,” said Aslan, “can you use a spade and a plow and raise food out of the earth?”
“Yes, sir, I could do a bit of that sort of work: being brought up to it, like.”
“Can you rule these creatures kindly and fairly, remembering that they are not slaves like the dumb beasts of the world you were born in, but Talking Beasts and free subject?”
“I see that, sir,” replied the Cabby. “I’d try to do the square thing by them all.”
“And would you bring up your children and grandchildren to do the same?”
“It’d be up to me to try, sir. I’d do my best...”

(Genesis 1:28-30; Genesis 9:2)

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“But please, please—won’t you—can’t you give me something that will cure Mother?” Up till then [Digory] had been looking at the Lion’s great feet and the huge claws on them; now, in his despair, he looked up at its face. What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face was bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion’s eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory’s own that for a moment he felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself.
“My son, my son,” said Aslan. “I know. Grief is great. Only you and I in this land know that yet.”

(Psalm 22:24; Isaiah 53:3; Isaiah 53:4; 2 Kings 20:5; John 11:35)

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“I’m sure Aslan would have, if you’d asked him,” said Fledge.
“Wouldn’t he know without being asked?” said Polly.
“I’ve no doubt he would,” said the Horse. “But I’ve a sort of idea he likes to be asked.”

(Matthew 6:8b; Matthew 7:7; Philippians 4:6)

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When the travelers reached the top, they walked nearly all the way round it outside the green wall before they found the gates: high gates of gold, fast shut, facing due east.
... When he had come close up to them he saw words written on the gold with silver letters; something like this:
Come in by the gold gates nor not at all,
Take of my fruit for others or forbear,
For those who steal or those who climb my wall
Shall find their heart’s desire and find despair.
“Take of my fruit for others,” said Digory to himself. “Well, that’s what I’m going to do. It means I mustn’t eat any myself, I suppose...”

... He knew which was the right tree at once, partly because it stood in the very center and partly because the great silver apples with which it was loaded shone so and cast a light of their own down on the shadowy places where the sunlight did not reach. He walked straight across to it, picked an apple, and put it in the breast pocket of his Norfolk jacket. But he couldn’t help looking at it and smelling it before he put it away.
It would have been better if he had not. A terrible thirst and hunger came over him and a longing to taste that fruit. He put it hastily into his pocket; but there were plenty of others. Could it be wrong to taste one? After all, he thought, the notice on the gave might not have been exactly an order; it might have been only a piece of advice—and who cares about advice? Or even if it was an order, would he be disobeying it by eating an apple? He had already obeyed the part about taking one “for others.”
While he was thinking all of this he happened to look up through the branches toward the top of the tree. There, on a branch above his head, a wonderful bird was roosting... The tiniest slit of one eye was open... “And it just shows,” said Digory afterward when he was telling the story to the others, “that you can’t be too careful in these magical places. You never know what may be watching you.”

...Digory was just turning to go back to the gates when he stopped to have one last look round. He got a terrible shock. He was not alone. There, only a few yards away from him, stood the Witch. She was just throwing away the core of an apple which she had eaten. The juice was darker than you would expect and had made a horrid stain round her mouth. Digory guessed at once that she must have climbed in over the wall. And he began to see that there might be some sense in that last line about getting your heart’s desire and getting despair along with it. For the Witch looked stronger and prouder than ever, and even, in a way, triumphant; but her face was deadly white, white as salt.

... “Foolish boy,” said the Witch. “Why do you run from me? I mean you no harm. If you do not stop and listen to me now, you will miss some knowledge that would have made you happy all your life.”
“Well I don’t want to hear it, thanks,” said Digory. But he did.
“I know what errand you have come on,” continued the Witch. “For it was I who was close beside you in the woods last night and heard all your counsels. You have plucked fruit in the garden yonder. You have it in your pocket now. And you are going to carry it back, untasted, to the Lion; for him to eat, for him to use. You simpleton! Do you know what that fruit is? I will tell you. It is the apple of youth, the apple of life. I know, for I have tasted it; and I feel already such changes in myself that I know I shall never grow old or die. Eat it, Boy, eat it; and you and I will both live forever and be king and queen of this whole world—or of your world, if we decide to go back there.” ...
“Do you not see, Fool, that one bite of that apple would heal [your mother]? You have it in your pocket. We are here by ourselves and the Lion is far away. Use your Magic and go back to your own world. A minute later you can be at your Mother’s bedside, giving her the fruit. Five minutes later you will see the colour coming back to her face...”
... “What has the Lion ever done for you that you should be his slave?” said the Witch. “What can he do to you once you are back in your own world? And what would your Mother think if she knew that you could have taken her pain away and given her back her life and saved your Father’s heart from being broken, and that you wouldn’t—that you’re rather run messages for a wild animal in a strange world that is no business of yours?”

(Genesis 2: 8-9; Genesis 2: 16-17; Genesis 3:1-5; James 1:14; Luke 22:40; 1 Corinthians 10:13)

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... “That is what happens to those who pluck and eat fruits at the wrong time and in the wrong way. The fruit is good, but they loathe it ever after.”
“Oh I see,” said Polly. “And I suppose because she took it in the wrong way it won’t work for her. I mean it won’t make her always young and all that?”
“Alas,” said Aslan, shaking his head. “It will. Things always work according to their nature. She has won her heart’s desire; she has unwearying strength and endless days like a goddess. But length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery and already she begins to know it. All get what they want; they do not always like it.”
“I—I nearly ate one myself, Aslan,” said Digory. “Would I—“
“You would, child,” said Aslan. “For the fruit always works—it must work—but it does not work happily for any who pluck it at their own will.” ... “the Witch tempted you to do another thing, my son, did she not?”
“Yes, Aslan. She wanted me to take an apple home to Mother.”
“Understand, then, that it would have healed her; but not to your joy or hers...”

... “That is what would have happened, child, with a stolen apple. It is not what will happen now. What I give you now will bring joy. It will not, in your world, give endless life, but it will heal. Go. Pluck her an apple from the Tree.”

(Proverbs 14:12; Proverbs 21:2; Proverbs 12:15; Proverbs 28:26)

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Scripture Verses:

Genesis 1:2a - Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep.


Genesis 1: 3-4 - And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.

Genesis 1:14-18 -  And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years,  and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.  God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth,  to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness.

Genesis 1: 20-21 - And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.”  So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.

Genesis 1: 24-25 - And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.  God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds.

Genesis 2:1 - Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

Genesis 2: 5-6 - Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 

Joshua 2:11 – When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

Job 4:14 – Fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake.

Luke 23:30 – Then “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’

James 2:19 – Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

Isaiah 14:13-15 – You said in your heart,  “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;  I will make myself like the Most High.” But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.

Isaiah 59:2 - But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Jeremiah 5:21 - Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.

Ezekiel 12:2 - They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.

Matthew 13:13 - This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

John 8:47 - Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.

Romans 11:8 - “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day.”

Psalm 81:12 – So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.


2 Thessalonians 2:11 – Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false.

Romans 5:12 – Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin

Romans 5:14 – Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.

Romans 5:16-19 – Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.  For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.  For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

1 Corinthians 15:22 – For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 

Genesis 1:28-30 - God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.  And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 

Genesis 9:2 – The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.

Psalm 22:24 – For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.

Isaiah 53:3 – He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Isaiah 53:4 – Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering.

2 Kings 20:5 – This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears.

John 11:35 – Jesus wept.

Matthew 6:8b – Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Matthew 7:7 – Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Philippians 4:6 – In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 

Genesis 2: 8-9 - Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.  The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2: 16-17 -  “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;  but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Genesis 3:1-5 - Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,  but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.  “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

James 1:14 – But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.

Luke 22:40 – And when he came to the place, he said to them,  "Pray that you may not enter into temptation."

1 Corinthians 10:13 – No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Proverbs 14:12 - There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.

Proverbs 21:2 - A person may think their own ways are right, but the LORD weighs the heart.

Proverbs 12:15 – The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.

Proverbs 28:26 – Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.