Royal Imagination

I became a royalist upon reading The Chronicles of Narnia around the age of ten. This sensibility was confirmed in me the first time I saw Buckingham Palace. I have been in love with palaces and castles ever since. The photo above is of my family in the gardens of Kilkenny Castle, Ireland, in 2004.

C. S. Lewis once wrote in a letter to an American correspondent:

"American children, as I know from the letters they write me, are just as 'Aslan-olatrous' as English ones. The world of fairy-tale, as the world of Christianity, makes the heart and imagination royalist in a sense which mere politics hardly [touches]. What my stories do is to liberate--to free from inhibitions--a spontaneous impulse to serve and adore, to have a 'dearest dread', which the modern world starves, or diverts to film-stars, crooners, and athletes." Unpublished letter to Patricia Hillis, Austin, Texas, March 10, 1959.

Three Miracles

When people tell me they don't believe in miracles I say, "Come to my house; I have three of them living there!" From left to right in this photo those three miracles are named: James (now 14), Joshua (now 8) and Jonathan (now 12). They have grown up so much since this photo of them wearing their school uniforms was taken in Ireland three years ago. And that's just the point: they are three miracles who eat potato chips and turn it into muscle every day!

A Strong Tower

This is one of many round towers we saw in Ireland. Round towers were used in monastic settlements as defensive structures. The monks would run to the tower as a place of protection against attack from marauding Vikings and others.

This reminds me of Proverbs 18:10 . . .

"The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
the righteous run to it and are safe."

Mind Your Head

This photo of my son Joshua was taken at Jerpoint Abbey, but the message applies to all of us, everywhere. We need to "mind our heads" every day.

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2

Secret Place

This is a photo of one of my children's favorite places at Rathvinden. It is a space under a huge tree which my boys liked to use as their "fort". We also used it as a place for birthday celebrations and a "talent show" when visited by some friends from England.

What I find interesting is the childhood tendency to create "secret places" out of special parts of God's creation. This human propensity for what J. R. R. Tolkien called "sub-creation" shows up very early in life. It seems to me that it is a sign of the fact that we are created in God's image. Like God our creator we are made to be sub-creators. And when we each find our own special way of being sub-creators in life we discover much of who we were created to be.

Rathvinden

This was one of the views at Rathvinden, where we lived in Ireland for eight months. Rathvinden means "fort of the faeries", and it was truly a magical place for us, magical in the sense of being full of God's majestic grace.

The beauty of the Irish countryside was a healing balm for our souls. This photo reveals a typical Irish day. Every day it would rain a little bit--a light mist really. Then the sun would break through the puffy white clouds and the grass would glow a brilliant green once again.

How truly did the Psalmist say: "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" Psalm 8:1

Kells

This is one of my favorite photos from our time in Ireland. It was taken at Kells. These were only a few of the hundreds of sheep we saw on the Emerald Isle, but when we returned home we realized it was only one of two photos we had of sheep!