The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

I decided to re-read The Magician’s Nephew for the Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge at Reading to Know because I thought it would be fun to go back and refresh my memory about how Narnia came to be.  Until now, The Magician’s Nephew wouldn’t have ranked very high on my list if I were to rank the chronicles according to how well I like them.  Unlike some of the other books, none of the characters from this book really stood out in my memory.   Now that I have re-read it, I have a better appreciation for the whole series, especially when it comes to seeing these stories spiritually.  

I also happened to be reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe aloud to the girls (more on this tomorrow for Read Aloud Thursday) at the same time that I was reading The Magician’s Nephew for my own enjoyment.  I think this really enhanced my enjoyment of both books since the two are so closely linked.  I can’t articulate very well how I felt while reading about Aslan “way back then” and Aslan “now.” (‘As a side note, is it odd that I think about it this way–that I “live” in the “present” Narnia of the Pevensie children, while the Narnia of Digory and Polly is the “old” Narnia?)  Reading it this way just made me happy inside.  🙂

The phrase that kept playing over and over in my brain while I was finishing up The Magician’s Nephew this afternoon is “fulness of time.”  The idea that everything that happens in Narnia happens at just the right time is a pervasive theme in this book.  I like that.  I like this even more:

Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,  to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.  And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.  Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.  (Galatians 4:3-7 KJV)

I’m glad I chose this book as the one I read again.  I knew I wouldn’t have time to re-read the whole series this week, but this was a good one to pair with my read-aloud with the girls.  I don’t feel like there are “holes” that I need to fill in, and while Wardrobe definitely closes with the promise of more, there are no cliffhangers, so I don’t feel compelled to read the rest right now.  That’s okay–I’ll get back to Narnia some day when the spirit moves me. 

(Pssssssst–Don’t forget about my Narnia giveaway!  Commenting on this post and all other posts this week with the Narnia Challenge button will enter you for a chance to win a neat Narnia resource which I’ll reveal on Friday!)

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