The Lucy (Blank)/ The Eustace (Lined)
The Lucy
Size: 4.5 w x 6 h
Key features: six bindings, Silver snap
Leather: Light brown Denvor leather
The Lucy Journal
“Oh, children,” said the Lion, “I feel my strength coming back to me. Oh, children, catch me if you can!” He stood for a second, his eyes very bright, his limbs quivering, lashing himself with his tail. Then he made a leap high over their heads and landed on the other side of the Table. Laughing, though she didn’t know why, Lucy scrambled over it to reach him…It was such a romp as no one has ever had expect in Narnia; and whether it was more like playing with a thunderstorm or playing with a kitten Lucy could never make up her mind.” – The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Lucy accepts Aslan and Narnia at face value from the start. She is a true believer, of the best sort. She looks at Aslan with a childlike faith and believes in her heart that while he is not safe, he is good. She is the character that is consistently able to follow him and speak the truth, even when she is not listened to. The gifts that she are given are more subtle than a sword or bow and arrows, but, they speak to her compassion and her ability to believe better of others. She faces her own share of challenges and in those moments, she consistently goes back to a path of forgiveness and pointing out the truth to others in a gentle way.
Lucy is called Lucy the Valiant in the books (one who possesses courage or determination) and it is Aslan that calls her to lean into that courage. In moments where she is faced with following the path of the others or following Aslan, he helps her to see it isn’t her place to think about the things that would have happened, only to follow him and do what is right.
Aslan wasn’t angry with Lucy when she had her doubts and her foibles, rather he called her to be more. To lean into her confidence in him, lean into the truth that she knows is there, and lean into following his voice. He knows as she leans more into him, a truer version of who she is begins to emerge.
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God-
Thank You that You equip me with the gifts that I need when I need them, because You are a gift and every good and perfect thing comes from you. Thank You that You will renew a steadfast spirit within me. Thank You for creating each of us in such unique ways, yet you are weaving us together so that we are able to do more together than apart. Renew a valiant spirit within me. Help me to see that as I follow You, You are shaping me into the person that I was always called to be. Amen.
The Eustace
Size: 4.5 w x 6 h
Key features: Four bindings, Silver snap, lined pages
Leather: Light brown Denvor leather
The Eustace Journal
“But in an instant he realized the truth. The dragon face in the pool was his own reflection. There was no doubt of it. It moved as he moved: it opened and shut its mouth as he opened and shut his. He had turned into a dragon while he was asleep. Sleeping on a dragon’s hoard with greedy, dragnoish thoughts in his heart, he had become a dragon himself.” – The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
Eustace is the character that we revile, but also, if we truly look back on ourselves, he is more like us than we would care to admit. He is difficult and you can’t help but to abhor him the more that you know him. He is blinded by his own desires and he whole-heartedly believes himself to be superior to everyone around him. Just as you think he can’t possibly turn a corner, his outside becomes the reflection of what his insides have been- a dragon.
But instead of leaning into his dragonish ways, Eustace begins the act of stripping away the vile and selfish parts of his character. He becomes kind and helpful and generous. But his dragon hide, still reflects the unredeemed soul that he was before. He is unable to strip away his own dragon skin and shed the last vestige of his old life.
But Aslan. Aslan has always seen Eustace and he comes to him. Eustace feels his unworthiness and feels the shame of his dragon-like appearance and begins to tear and strip away his very skin in an attempt to be clean again. Three times he tears his own skin away, only to find himself still covered in scales. Aslan says to Eustace that the only way for him to be clean is for Aslan to complete the process for him. Eustace submits to Aslan and the Great Lion sinks his own claws into that hide and pulls away the echoes of Eustace’s old soul and reveals Eustace as who Aslan has always known him to be. While Eustace is not perfect following this redemption moment (who of us is?) he makes a conscious choice to never forget the Great Lion and how he uncovered and recovered him anew. And that makes all the difference.
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God-
Thank you for meeting me in the deepest, darkest spaces of our soul and still saying, “I want you. You are worthy.” Thank You for seeing me as I truly am and still finding me worthy of pursuit. You have always loved me at my darkest. Thank You for entering into the darkness in order to pull me towards the Light. Help me to walk boldly into the light and to realize that what I am leaving behind will never compare with what you want to give to me. Amen.