The Story-Teller

These past few weeks my heart has been heavy as I watch from the sidelines as one of my closest friends battles through the twists and turns that the tragedy of a family death brings about in the heart. She has handled the sadness with grace and wisdom, and I am so proud of her heart.

As I have experienced the past few days through her, my thoughts have shifted to loss. To pain and comfort, life and death.

I have a feeling that at least once in their lifetime, every person has wondered, “Why?”

Why are they gone?

Why is this happening?

Why so soon?

Why so quick?

It may sound strange, but I think that Jesus communicates to us, and that often He does so in ways out of the typical realm—almost as though He’s making sure you really hear what He’s trying to say, so He says it a little differently than He normally would.

I’ve often felt like God communicates to me through stories. Stories resonate deeply within me, and I think it’s because I think of each of our lives as a story woven into a tapestry larger than we will ever understand, all to illustrate a bigger story than our minds could contain. He is the ultimate Story-Teller and Dream-Weaver, and I think the sadness of life and death blends with the joy of it to tell a story of awesome beauty. A story that I think we will be told someday in all of its entirety.

As I witnessed my friend in her love and her grief, I felt that whisper of a story on the edges of my mind as I leaned on my Jesus and asked Him where He was.

I’d been thinking all the normal questions—the why’s and the what for’s when a scene from one of my favorite stories of all time surfaced in my memory.

It’s from the children’s book The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. For those of you who haven’t read it, the magical kingdom of Narnia had just been discovered by the two children Digory and Polly, who through a series of misadventures, have stumbled into this land as it’s first being sung into existence by Aslan (who C.S. Lewis based on Jesus). They bring with them an evil witch who threatens to corrupt and destroy the brand new world.

After meeting, Aslan speaks with each of the children, especially with Digory (whose mother was near death), for he is the one responsible for bringing the witch out of her world and into Narnia.

The following conversation between the little boy and Aslan is the scene that came into my mind, line by line, as I grieved with my friend:

"Son of Adam," said Aslan. "Are you ready to undo the wrong that you have done to my sweet country of Narnia on the very day of its birth?"

"Well,  I don't see what I can do,"  said  Digory.  "You see, the Queen ran away and -"

"I asked, are you ready?" said the Lion.

"Yes," said Digory. He had had for a second some wild idea of saying "I'll try to help you if you'll promise to help my Mother," but he realized in time that the Lion was not at all the sort of person one could try to make bargains with. But when he had said "Yes," he thought of his Mother, and he thought of the great hopes he had had, and how they were all dying away, and a lump came in his throat and tears in his eyes, and he blurted out:

"But please, please - won't you - can't you give me something that will cure Mother?" Up till then he 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.”

Maybe you have to read the whole book to really get the beauty of that moment, but as I remembered the story, Jesus spoke to my heart more sweetly through those words than He probably could have through any Bible verse and said: "There. That is where I am. Leaning close to the broken and sharing their sorrow with them in every moment. Staying close because I promised that they will never be forsaken. Never alone." 

I know that it’s true that my God allows life to run its course and end in death, but I also know that He seeks us during our life so that when our eyes close in death, it’s just so we can begin an eternity with Him. I know that He allows death to happen, but I also know that He understands the pain of it, and that He loves each of us more than we can imagine. That when we hurt, so does He, and He offers His hand in strength and comfort if only we will take it.

He is with the dying in their final moments, bringing peace to the ones who know Him, and just as present with those who do not, still whispering to the spirit in His own words that life does not have to end in death if only they’ll hold on to Him. His love is strong, and I don't think He ever stops asking for His children to be reconciled with Him, not even at the very end. You see, He is the great Bridge-Builder in life and death, and for those of us who cling to Him a bridge is built into eternity, and the chasm between life and death forever defeated. How lucky are the ones who come to know and trust that early in life.

I was blessed to watch my friend cling to the hand He offered, and know that as a result she feels the peace and the blessing of the beautiful life her loved one lived.  I see her and I know that the grief she faces is more for the ones left behind than it is for her beloved family member who today is rejoicing in paradise. It will not crush her, because it is a grief whose root grows from hope. From hope and joy and love, and a very sweet knowledge that there is more to life than death, and soon, we will be reunited and there will be no tears.