Aslan.

Narnia. It's a place ruled by it's creator- a big, kind, omnipotent, powerful lion named Aslan. It's not hard to see why C.S. Lewis picked a lion to play the role of the Almighty God. I, shamefacedly admit that I did not read The Chronicles of Narnia until college. Ever since my sophomore year I have been entranced by Lewis' interpretation. I. love. Aslan. Consequently so does my husband.

Today Nick and I went to the San Diego Zoo- the best our country has to offer. We saw Aslan... well what I mean to say is that we saw a lion. It was either a Transvaal lion (the ones in Africa) or an Asiatic lion (in India) which is slightly smaller. The zoo has both and I don't remember which one in particular it was. I imagine Aslan would be the biggest lion to be had.

Picture credits to Tara

The lion was majestic and kingly. Much more magnificent in person than if seen in pictures or on TV. Today the lion roared for us. It's a sound you can't describe. It's deep and rich and louder than you can imagine. So me, being me, started to wander off in my mind and dwell on the words written in Narnia. When you look at the lion's mane you think "If I could just touch it!" and then hear the roar and think "I would never ever touch it"

And so, here are some words of Lewis' I want to share with you.

"For when they tried to look at Aslan's face they just caught a glimpse of the golden mane and the great, royal, solemn, overwhelming eyes: and then they found they couldn't look at him and went all trembly"

Prince Caspian

"For what stood in the doorway was Aslan himself, The Lion, the highest of all High Kings. And he was solid and real and warm and he let her kiss him and bury herself in his shining mane. And from the low, earthquake like sound that came from inside him, Lucy even dared to think he was purring"

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader