Walking Through The Wardrobe

The four Pevensie children were sent to live in the country during World War II.
They lived with the eccentric Professor Kirke.
On a rainy day, the children decided to explore the large house.
Lucy, the youngest, discovered an enormous wardrobe, which she opened and stepped inside.

The wardrobe was a door to another place.
Lucy found herself in a strange, snowy wood, far from the rainy day she left in London.
Lucy had entered Narnia, a once beautiful place that was now enchanted by an evil White Witch.
It was now a place that is always winter and never Christmas.

I felt like I had entered the wardrobe the other day.
I left a place that I was familiar with and drove through a world that was unfamiliar.
It was as if I left one world and entered another.
I literally went back in time and it was delightful.

I knew that there had to be a way to shorten the distance between two points.
I am often a creature of habit when I drive and tend to take the same routes.
However I knew there had to be an easier way to get where I needed to go.
I reluctantly got out my GPS that I only use on longer trips and typed in the destination.

None of the roads it suggested were roads I was familiar with.
I had never driven on them before.
I knew in my mind that I was traveling perpendicular to the road I had been on.
I knew that I could always turn around if I needed to and return to the way I knew.

However, if I had done that I would have missed the blessing of discovery.
I would have missed the simplicity that was all around me.
I would have driven the tried and true way but had no adventure.
I would have taken the safe route.

As soon as I turned down this country road I was transported.
There were a few farms scattered about.
Mostly there were fields of corn; corn that was taller than most men.
Corn that was brown half way up the stalk yet still green on the top.

Corn that would soon be harvested.
But for now, the stalks were still there in the fields.
I remember thinking how someone could get lost in there.
And then I remembered the corn maze that my children loved to go through.

I was driving uphill.
Rather than a tree lined drive, it was a cornfield lined drive.
There was only the road with the high stalks of corn on either side.
I felt like the Israelites passing through the parted Red Sea.

Far ahead of me I saw neon green reflector vests.
It was so far ahead of me, I couldn’t tell who was wearing the vests.
The vests seemed out of place here.
They were a bit of modernity in an otherwise rural setting.

I was driving slowly, taking in every inch of what I was seeing.
I passed a schoolhouse on my right, with a horse tied up in front under a lone tree.
There was an Amish buggy parked on the side of the building.
The door to the schoolhouse was open and I could see desks inside.

There was a playground in the back of the small building.
It had the kind of equipment I remember as a girl.
There were tall metal swings and a high metal sliding board.
It was nothing fancy, just simple old-fashioned fun.

I smiled at the thought of the children sitting at those desks and playing on those swings.
As I approached the neon vests, I saw that Amish children wore them.
Amish children of all ages were walking home from the school I just passed.
The vests must be required since they all were wearing them.

The vests and the simple clothes did not fit together.
Royal blue, purple, green and black were colors I was used to seeing.
However neon reflector vests worn over Amish clothing looked out of place.
I understood the reason behind wearing them, but it made me sad.

Modern life had encroached on their cornfields.
A road that used to be just for buggies was now on the GPS as a short cut.
I wanted to turn back and apologize for being where I should not have been.
I was driving at a snail’s pace down the road to make sure the children were safe.

I saw neon orange flags ahead of the first group of children I passed.
The next group was way up the hill.
They were all walking with their scooters next to them.
It was their scooters that had the neon orange flag attached to the back.

Modernity again.
I understood.
I would never want the children to get hit by a car.
Some cars probably go much too fast down that road.

But for some reason, I wanted a sign posted: reserved for buggies and children.
I wanted the road to be off limits to all except for those that lived there.
I wanted the school to be shielded from eyes that could look inside and see the desks.
I wanted to leave them alone.

I was so blessed by my trip down that road.
The children were the quintessential Amish children.
The older ones were helping the younger ones, and some of them were very young.
They all had metal lunch pails in their hands.

When I approached a stop sign at the top of the hill, the children got on their scooters.
The ground leveled off.
The children needed to turn left in front of me.
I stopped far away from the stop sign and waved them on.

The older one, a boy, took the lead.
He stayed back until all the children had safely turned.
A little girl with her hair pulled back smiled at me.
Another little boy in a straw hat gave me a timid wave.

The older boy nodded his head in my direction.
It was his way of saying thank you.
He waved to a man across the street that was bringing his cows into the barn.
I waited until all his cows crossed the road and turned right, away from the children.

I wanted to stay there.
I wanted to live this simply.
I wanted to step back in time to this place.
I wanted to leave my car and begin walking, or riding a scooter, or coaxing my cows home.

But then I remembered the neon green vests and the neon orange flags.
Modernity has a way of catching up with us no matter where we go.
You cannot run away from it no matter how much you may want to.
It always catches up with you.

Still for a moment I was a participant observer.
I was vicariously living farm life, if only for an instant.
I felt like an intruder on this road that my GPS directed me to take.
I felt like an intruder.

And then my cell phone rang in the console next to me.
Modernity always catches up with you.

He has showed you, Oh man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

2 responses to “Walking Through The Wardrobe”

1. Sounds like you had a fun trip that day… it is refreshing to step back where life is simple and unhurried to reflect on the beauty God provides us and what really matters in life..

   Reply

   • Janet,
     It was a lovely trip. It felt like uncharted territory. I was so blessed to have experienced it.
     Gina

     Reply