A Wardrobe in Disguise

CS Lewis wardrobe at the Marion E Wade Center, Wheaton College (IL)

“It won’t be long now,”
you said with a smile
your emotions under control.
And I marveled at your calm.
But when you got that call that said
all had been done (and all was not enough),
didn’t it take a while for your ready smile
to find your face again?

You are never quite ready
for the end to come, are you?
Even when you’ve had wind of the end
for a while.

When you finally face that familiar face
inside that greedy box,
your resignation to what you thought
you were prepared for
quickly bolts out the door,
leaving you alone with the lonely truth
that life will never, ever, really be the same.

But as Paul Harvey was wont to say…
“And now for the rest of the story!”

Death’s only glory is that overpriced coffin
in which it thinks it’s sealed our fate
(and that of those we loved).
But Death forgets its box is but a wardrobe.
through which the Risen Lion leads us
(and all those with faith)
into the Land of Narnia
where Death
(even if it could be remembered)
would only be a bad dream.

Long live, Aslan!
Deep be Your peace!

Christ is risen!
He is risen, indeed!

In “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” the author invites us to enter the land of Narnia through an old-fashioned bedroom wardrobe. That standing wooden box is the means by a new world is experienced. Have you ever thought of a casket as a wardrobe? For the Christian, a simple pine box is a time-capsule to eternal life. If you have never read this classic story by C. S. Lewis, why not commit to reading it this year?

The above post is an excerpt from When God Speaks by Greg Asimakoupoulos. It was written for a friend whose father died after an extended illness.