Seeing the Story Through

"And I have such desire to find the signification of this thing that I would not by my good will turn back for the richest jewel in all Narnia and all the islands...let us go on and take the adventure that shall fall to us.” C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

I’m not sure which page this quote comes from but it has certainly touched my heart this morning as I complete my Bible study, Jesus & Women by Kristi McLelland. As she was bringing this study to a close, she dropped this relic in the middle of one of the final pages. She was writing about the spiritual rhythm of ‘remembering and celebrating’ as we look backwards recounting all of God’s faithfulness and looking forward celebrating everything He will do up ahead. When reading C.S. Lewis’s quote, I couldn’t help but to remember the journey God began with me in 2006. Little did I know the adventures that I would be whisked into with such joy and excitement. Little did I know of some of the heartbreaks that God would have to drag me through. But as the quote states, ‘I would not by my good will turn back for the richest jewel…’ I will ‘go on and take the adventure that shall fall to me.’ I can’t express the beautiful symphony of remembering and celebrating better than Kristi’s closing thoughts.

‘I believe God put these spiritual practices [remembering and celebrating] before His people because He knows that we are a forgetful people. We tend to most easily forget the faithfulness of the Lord, because life kicks us all in the gut. The pain of the immediate can make it harder to remember what He has done and the promise of what He will do. These rhythms anchor us in reality…Remembering takes us back to the actual historical record of who God is and how He has not failed us yet, nor will He ever fail us. 

There’s something about remembering in a way of active celebration that moves us forward – encouraged, emboldened, and courageous enough to lean into the thing in front of us…It reminds us God is going to see the story all the way through, shepherding us and this whole crazy world back to ‘shalom’, harmony, wholeness, delight and communion with God’ p. 136.