Grave News

Judah and I watched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe last night together. He had seen bits of it on tv the week before and was amused by the talking animals. We own it, so I thought I would save the full viewing of this film for a night when I could explain things and watch for cues that I needed to turn it off. He loved it. He had a ton of questions about everything, but he loved it. I have two stories that will forever be attached to this movie for me...I will begin with the sad one:

At the end of the movie, we were talking about how Aslan sacrificed his life so Edmund wouldn't have to die even though Edmund had disobeyed yada yada yada. At the end of this "Aslan did a lot of the same things Jesus did for us" talk, I was telling him about how we can choose to live like Jesus by asking him into our hearts and all that jazz. It was all stuff we had talked about before, but it felt like a good time to bring it up again. In the past, Judah has expressed great concern that he would go to Heaven and not get to see any of us. This is a big hang up for him, so he always tells me that he doesn't want Jesus in his heart yet. This time, however, it was a whole different story. I told him, like I always do, that he can let Will or I know if/when he is ready.

He looked at me with great concern and said, "Mama, I love Jesus, and I want to live like him and all, but, I don't really like the nails or the whole cross part. I don't think I wanna do that." With this, his eyes filled with tears. I have so much love for this kid. I hadn't mentioned the nails or cross even once...those were things on his mind from who knows how long ago...Easter? I explained to him that we don't have to die like that because Jesus did it for us, and I hope he understood. It just killed me that everything that I say or don't say plays a crucial part in who this kid is and becomes. I felt like I had failed along the way somewhere. It is even more clear to me that only God can bring someone to him...I am just a clueless dummy struggling to explain something that makes so much sense to me. This mama stuff is hard.

On to the good story:

We were watching the part of the film when Aslan dies and Lucy and Susan send the trees to tell the boys the news. The tree person says, "I have grave news."

Judah asked, "Why does she think it is great news that Aslan is dead?"

I told him that she had said "grave not great". He asked me to define grave, which I did.

After maybe a five count, he said, "Mama, do you want to hear a grave joke?"

Of course I did.

"Why did the chicken cross the road?"

"Why?"

"So he could get cut by a knife."

Now, if that isn't grave, I don't know what is.