The Magic Box

So today I start a blog. Not long ago I injured my back so for a while I have been made to be still, to listen, to note. Scrolling through many blogs, listening to the voices of the world really, looking at all that matters to them, the photographs they have taken, the pictures they have pinned, hour upon hour of doing this, one thing kept coming to mind-we crave beauty and wonder whether it be found in things, nature or people. And for many, beauty and wonder are  magical, just plain otherworldly. And yes, I believe it to be so. We walk in only a reflection of true beauty yet one day the source of it will be revealed and we will understand our longings for such magnificence! C.S.Lewis said, "We want something else that we can hardly be put into words-to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it." He further explains that this is why we have peopled the air, the earth, the sea with elves,nymphs and faeries. Nature, for some, is the highest of beauty. Oh, but the day will dawn when the source of all beauty will be revealed!

I am a grandmother to an 18 month old little girl. Every day we go into "Mias room" and crawl up on the high bed. I bring out the "magic box", a box filled with ordinary things. But to her they are things of wonder. They are not toys. Most are the objects of grown-ups. There are smaller boxes filled with such things. Her face brightens as each day she explores the items in the magic box. Sometimes I surprise her with different items. She will sit with me for a long time as she touches and handles each item. A fairy doll is among these. For her, the world is filled with wonder and beauty. She has the heart of a child. I can't help but remember what Jesus has said. "Unless you become like a little child you cannot enter the kingdom of God." Those are powerful words chocked full of so much meaning, so many lessons for me to learn. As a Christian I am asked to dwell on things that are good and lovely and of good report. I now understand why.

C.S. Lewis as J.R Tolkien and George McDonald had a faith and passion for God. They also loved fantasy. Lewis said once, "When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."

^{1st John 3:2-3} Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.