once upon a time...

"Write about what really interests you, whether it is real things or imaginary things, and nothing else." 

-C.S. Lewis 

Once upon a time. Four words that hold the power to begin that which we know and that which we do not. Four words that can create more than one person could possibley imagine...whole worlds, brought to life. Living visions of the one who wields the words, painting for their reader all that they hold within their heart. Beguiling them to become lost, caught up, enveloped by their story, by all that they ache to say, by that which must be said. For to become lost in a story, reader, your author must write of that which fills their soul. That which makes up the fibers of who they are. Ah, but of what does the author you've chosen write of? Of what do they speak? Are they truly interested, living all their words convey to you? 

Once upon a time...there was a little girl whose childhood was spent alone. Yet, not quite alone. For her imagination, that which her Creator had put inside of her, He cultivated with such a beautiful hand that never was she alone. Worlds similar to Narnia, yet all her own, were dreamt of, brought to life by the imagination her God had given her from the first memories she held. Characters, friends, those who inhabited these colorful worlds taught her that to be lonely is truly not possible. Taught her to be a lady, and to treasure those in her reality outside of them. Oh, and there were grand adventures to be had every afternoon. The large leaves of a fig tree, hollowed out inside became a beautiful cottage deep in an enchanted wood.  Dragons, raging with living fire, fairies, flitting through the emerald forests of other worlds, knights brave and true, seeking to find and rescue that which their quest demanded, princesses not just in distress, but changing the world they inhabited through their goodness, their strength, their will to overcome all that life would throw at them filled her adventures to overflowing. Orphans found homes within the cottage walls, evil was kept at bay by the handsome prince, and there was peace in the land....well, with the exception of the dragons. 

This is what interests me. This is what I know. My childhood was filled with these characters, keeping a little girl who often played alone, company. Narnia was not just a place in a story book I liked, it was real. And now, having left behind the childhood I tried to hold onto as long as possible, I have found that one does not have to "lose" childhood. For it is always there, if I will simply remember the way into fairyland, back into Narnia, and go when called. If growing up is forgetting what we as children were interested in, then I am definitely not interested...I would keep that faith I had and be as a little child, simply believing that because I trusted in the handsome Prince, the dragon would be slain. 

This is the faith I would have in my Savior. For He promised He would slay the dragon, and He did. And so the war is won, though battles rage every day for my life. Yet, He has stood beside me, just like the Prince who defends his Princess in every good fairy tale. Except, this fairy tale is real. He is the Prince who gave His life that I might live, but unlike a mortal prince in a story, He defied even death that we could be together for all of eternity. Best fairy tale ever written, and you and I are living it...or can, if we choose to. 

This is what interests me. This is what I know. That I am forever His, because He is the most handsome, wonderful man that will ever fill my days. He is the author who dictates the words that come in all forms through the writers who allow Him to speak through them. And more than anything else, I would write what He would have me say. Nothing else. Only what He gives, what He has created in my soul to be told. He has put inside me many different things, words that are as colorful as jewel toned birds flying here and there. Often they fill my heart and head with beautiful worlds that the words would create, painting into being that which my childhood was full of. So, if a dragon, troll, fairy, Knight, Princess, Prince, or any other imagined creature from a world that is but a shadow of what we truly long for, can flame that fire of longing for Him, this is what I would write of. If that fire may be flamed by words that have nothing to do with any of this, then I would write only of whatever that may be as well. For the point is really not that I tell a wonderful story, but that you read the story and go away longing for more of Him. For more of the home awaiting you that the story is but a mere shadow of. Truly, I know that deep within your soul, there is an aching for more. 

"If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world."   -C.S. Lewis

We were created for so much more than we even know. This is the longing, the desire that you can't seem to fill: the need for Him. For you currently walk among shadowlands, oh, but the home for which your soul longs, it is just around the bend. 

And so let that which is imagined bring you closer to Him if it will. Let the realistic words of a more logical author be those that help press you deeper, but just simply be pressed. Find that which fans the flame, fill your days with His Word, go deep into the beauty of His character, and know your God. 

"For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son."   -Colossians 1:13

© Jade Valcarcel 2013. All rights reserved