Courage, Dear Heart
One of the biggest shocks to my husband when we got married was what a bad sleeper I am. In my opinion, I’ve actually gotten a lot better since I was little. As a child, I slept lightly and poorly, waking up throughout the night or suffering from nightmares. To help regulate my sleep and lull me back into dreamland, my mother started giving me books on audio to listen to as I fell asleep. This presented a new challenge, as I couldn’t listen to any story that I didn’t already know or that was too exciting, as I’d stay awake to hear it. The solution landed on a box set of all seven books of the Chronicles of Narnia on CD. Religiously, each evening I’d load the boxy CD player next to my bed with the next disc and turn it on, letting my body relax to the sounds of well-known British actors narrating these beloved books. If I woke up in the night, whether due to a nightmare or some other reason, I’d turn the story back on and eventually fall back asleep. I listened to the books so often that at a certain point in time, I had almost all seven books of the Chronicles of Narnia memorized. Until my later teens, I would fall asleep with my mind filled with the stories of British children called to the wondrous land of Narnia to defeat witches, bring justice, find lost princes, and seek out adventure. Of all the many characters who I knew and loved, there were two that stood out to me: Lucy and the great Lion, Aslan.
Lucy was one of those characters that stuck with me from the very first time I read the books. From the moment she steps into Narnia, to her heartbreak at bidding farewell to Aslan one last time, Lucy radiates wonder. In fact, while Queen of Narnia, the citizens of the magical land beyond the wardrobe refer to her as Queen Lucy, the Valiant, and appropriately so. I always resonated with Lucy’s imagination, the deep sensitivity of her heart and the awe with which she experiences the world. I saw myself in the earnestness of her heart and depth of her trust- as displayed in the deep friendship she builds with fawn Mr. Tumnus. Naturally, when her siblings break her trust, after Lucy attempts to share her experience in Narnia with her siblings, only to have no one believe her — and Edmund to make fun of her — breaks my heart every time I read it. You can imagine, then, that I am devastated by the chapter where Edmund betrays Lucy by pretending that he hadn’t actually been to Narnia with her. The recipient of healing cordial from Father Christmas and truly gentle of heart, Lucy feels keenly and loves deeply, and befriends all whom she encounters.
Yet, for all her emotionality and gentleness, Lucy is equally fearless. At the scene of her friend, the fawn Mr. Tumnus’ ransacked house, she charges in to find out what happened, with no thought of her own safety. She follows Aslan into the night when he sneaks away to sacrifice himself to save Edmund. Again, in Prince Caspian, Lucy goes off to find Aslan on her own at night; she finds him among the magic of the trees dancing at his presence. In the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Lucy faces her fears in the Shadow Island, as the Dawn Treader sails into the dark cloud of fears manifested as reality. Even as the darkness threatens to overwhelm the crew, a light carried by an albatross illuminates the way out of the shadow, but only Lucy hears Aslan’s voice say “Courage, dear heart.” I could go on and on about what I love about Lucy. Suffice it to say, Lucy is one of my favorite characters in all literature. What makes Lucy special, and what truly resonates with me to this day, is her relationship with Aslan.
Throughout the Chronicles of Narnia, Lucy has a unique relationship with the great lion, Aslan, the true ruler of Narnia and the son of the Emperor Across the Sea. When Lucy and her siblings are called back to Narnia to overthrow a tyrant king and install his nephew as the rightful ruler in Prince Caspian, only she recognizes Aslan. When Lucy and her brother Edmund say goodbye to Narnia and Aslan for the last time, Lucy wails “It isn’t Narnia, you know. It’s you! We shan’t meet you there! And how can we live, never meeting you?”
“It isn’t Narnia, you know,” sobbed Lucy. “It’s you. We shan’t meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?”
Lucy has a deeply personal relationship with Aslan. She trusts him implicitly. In her connection with Aslan, she comes to recognize her own strength and come into her own in a unique way. In Prince Caspian, when Lucy recognizes Aslan, none of her siblings believe her, and they continue to brave their way on their own. Their independence has dire consequences. Yet, when Lucy finally reconnects with Aslan, even as he gently chides her, Aslan takes Lucy with him to raise even the trees of Narnia into an army that overcomes the enemy, and gives her an opportunity to again be brave. Again and again, C. S. Lewis describes Lucy’s greetings with Aslan as emotional ones, where she throws her arms and buries her face in the warm gold of Aslan’s mane. She is ever Queen Lucy the Valiant because of the effect Aslan has on her.
When I was a teenager, I read an article where the author compared Lucy and Aslan to Calvin and Hobbs, from the children’s comic strip about a six year old boy and his stuffed tiger. In it, the author recognized that which these two great cats shared - namely they effect they had on the lives of the children who interacted with them. The author went on, though, to elaborate on the differences. For him, Hobbs was a much more present figure in the life of Clavin than Aslan, who would seem to appear and disappear at a whim, at times with generations between his visits to Narnia. Hobbs was a part of Calvin, an extension of his imagination, and as such far more accessible than the mysterious Aslan seemed to be. I remember being frustrated with the article. The author, in his love for Hobbs, seemed to miss the entire point of Aslan. Don’t get me wrong, I loved reading Calvin and Hobbs growing up as much as the next kid, but Hobbs pales in comparison to Aslan. True, Aslan, while being a part of Narnia, is distinctly not of Narnia. Throughout the series, characters repeat the phrase “He isn’t a tame lion, but he is good.” That is the power of Aslan that the author missed - that he loves Lucy, her siblings, and the Narnians unconditionally, not because he is an extension of them or because he has too, like Hobbs does for Calvin, but because he chooses to.
I found this fountain with a lion carved into it while studying abroad in Granada, Spain, and I decided ever since that it was Aslan.
Since childhood, the relationship between Lucy and Aslan, captured my imagination. Even beyond the personality traits I share with Lucy, I see myself in her because her relationship with Aslan influenced my own relationship with Christ. I like to think that C. S. Lewis would be touched by that fact. For all the theology and Bible teaching I read and absorbed throughout my childhood, it was in Aslan that I met Christ, a God that was simultaneously human and divine, that cared deeply about His creation. Because of Lucy’s pure adoration of the Lion, throwing herself into his mane, I knew that I could turn all my hopes and fears to Christ and He could carry them all. As Aslan saw Lucy in all her valiance and weakness, I knew that Christ could see my entire being, and love me through all of it, even as He shapes and molds me ever more into the person He created me to be. Like Lucy, I don’t always recognize my own strength and at times care too much about what others think when I make choices. Even so, I know that just as Aslan sees Lucy in all her wholeness, I know that I am equally seen. Most of all, as Lucy’s pure and simple love for Aslan is returned, with a love that is fiercer that any force in Narnia — I knew myself to be wholly and fiercely loved by my God. Perhaps, then, that is why the Chronicles of Narnia, and the story of Lucy and Aslan, always lulled me to sleep.
I am no longer a child, but sometime I still wake up in the night. Of course, now I wake up next to my husband. Even as I listen to his steady breathing, sometimes I think back to that box set of the Chronicles of Narnia. As I close my eyes, I can see Aslan. Sometimes, just like when I was a child, I imagine myself to be Lucy, pressing my face into the Lion’s mane, and I hear Aslan whisper “Courage, dear heart.” And I know that I am deeply loved and safe from any terrors of the night.
