"Narnia, Narnia, Narnia, awake. Love. Think. Speak. Be walking trees. Be talking beasts. Be divine waters." - Aslan at the beginning of creation of Narnia (C.S. Lewis,The Magician's Nephew)

I never thought a line out of children's book would impact me so much, but I cannot get the line out of head. I cannot get the thought of God speaking over the Earth--to awake, love, think and speak--out of my mind. C.S. Lewis, with his allegory of Aslan as God the Father creating the world from nothingness with just His breath and His song, made Genesis 1 that much more real to me. 

"Awake. Love. Think. Speak." What do they mean? Why are they in that order? Why would four simple words out of a children's fantasy book open my eyes so much? Over four weeks I will try and attempt to answer these questions. (Make sure you read Part 1 and Part 2.)

Now that I know how to love, that I have love, that I comprehend love, I can begin to think. If I thought before loving, I would never love because the moment fear of loving crept into those thoughts, then I would not have the understanding that perfect love casts out all fear.

I tend to overthink things. Even being redeemed and set free by the love of God I worry at times. If someone had just told me love was more important than thinking earlier in my life (like at creation perhaps). 

But now that I am learning to live I can begin to think. But rather than think about problems or potential problems or thinking the worst of a situation, I need to meditate on the word of the living God. One night as I worshiped and prayed in my living room I was struck by the lyrics of Misty Edwards' "Only a Shadow." 

Though I walk through the valley,
It's only a shadow, it's only a shadow.

This amazed me. Not that I haven't read, recited and tried my hardest to memorize Psalm 23 before. However, before this moment, the fact that it is only a mere shadow of death, and not death itself, never dawned on me. How does one get to this place where when in the valley of the shadow of death, that the fact that is is merely a shadow is no longer overshadowed by the words valley and death?

I think Shane and Shane put it best in "When I Think About The Lord."

When I Think about the Lord,
How He saved me, how He raised me,
how He filled me, with the Holy Ghost.
How He healed me, to the uttermost.

When I Think about the Lord,
how He picked me up and turned me around,
how He placed my feet on solid ground
It makes me wanna shout,

Hallelujah,
Thank you JESUS,
LORD, you're worthy, of all the glory, and all the honor,
and all the praise... 

When I worship God I become awake, I then am filled with love. When I am awake and filled with love, my thoughts are filled with His thoughts rather than my own. When my thoughts are thoughts based on love and not fear or selfishness the the valley of the shadow of death is merely a valley--because it's only a shadow of death, not death itself.

Love must proceed our thoughts or else there is no difference in this life than the life of someone who learns to think by going to Barnes and Noble and purchasing every book in the self help section. 

When we are awake and filled with love, our minds are renewed. Our identity is firmly secured in Jesus and not mixed up with the teachings of people. It is at this point that we can think on higher things and the things of this world.