Finished Reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

I just finished another reading of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe of The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.  This was the first book of the seven-part series that Lewis had published, but chronologically it is the second one...and chronological order is what I've been following in my reading.  Let's see...I think this was my third time around reading it, not to mention having seen the film adaptation twice.  I like this story, which is a clear allegorical presentation, in the form of the great lion Lord Aslan, of Christ's atoning substitutional sacrifice upon the cross ("deep magic from the dawn of time") and his subsequent resurrection ("deeper magic from the dawn of time").  It is clearly the most well-known and performed of the Narnia tales.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe picks up during wartime when siblings Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are sent into the English countryside to stay at their elderly relative Diggory's large house.  Playing hide-and-seek, Lucy first stumbles upon a large wardrobe, into which she enters to hide...and discovers that beyond the hanging coats stand trees and a snow-bound, winter world.  It's Narnia again, only that the few decades on Earth since Diggory visited it represents a lapse of hundreds of years in Narnia's time.  The evil witch queen has overrun Narnia and has put it into a deep, permanent winter, and the creatures living there are fearful of her cruel and oppressive reign.  Edmund later follows Lucy into this land and, well, he has some pretty nasty attitude issues that lead to a great deal of trouble.  Aslan comes to the rescue, but even he is subject to laws by which he must abide.  And herein lies the Christian message of redemption through faith.

I think one of the coolest things about The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was in the final chapter and in the manner that Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy manage to make their way back home...and how time factors into this!