You can see the complete meditation by my friend, Singing Owl, here.
She refers to "Fear of the Lord" and explores what that might look like and mean in our lives, using as an example the passage from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe where Lucy and Susan wonder about the nature of Aslan...is he safe? Is he a tame lion? The Beavers quickly clarify. "Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king, I tell you!"
Aslan and much of Lewis' other fiction informs a large part of my theology, and it helps me to have this passage on which to reflect. Part of me protests the idea that Jesus would never want me to be a mindlessly submissive, cringing thing. And the other part of me sure does see that faithfulness to Jesus/Aslan would require submission. Whether I like the word, or not.
I've been struggling seriously for a long time with some issues of doctrine, and have considered searching elsewhere for a faith community that would meet some of my needs in that area. Of course, the problem is the people in my parish. I could not leave the people.
And so on a Friday in October I took myself to lunch and made a list of pros and cons. And then I said, "God, I don't know. Please show me what you want me to do." I lay down my will. I ate my pad thai. And then I walked back to work.
Within an hour of my return, I received an e-mail offering an opportunity that, at first, threw me into a tizzy, and then (when I calmed down a little bit) solidified before my eyes into a path. A way to stay, to be obedient in the place where I am.
And I said, "this desk is holy ground."
