For the last few months, I have been accompanying children in reading C.S. Lewis’s gift to humankind, The Chronicles of Narnia. Together, we are exploring what it means to know God, to walk in friendship with Jesus, and how God looks at us, all within the context of the stories of Narnia.
Listening to children with curiosity and a secure openness has opened pathways for me to experience the depths of the Holy Spirit’s engagement with children, creating space for an awe-inspiring encounter with the Triune God.
Children immersed in the story, reflect on Aslan who sang the world into creation,1 and in whose mane Lucy snuggled in and found the strength of a lioness.2 The discovery of a loving, mysterious, wildly passionate God through Aslan, who is always present, the hero of the story, makes children wonder if God is like that – someone deeply in love with them. As a result, when children spend time looking at God looking at them with love, boys and girls come away with a strong response that ‘Jesus is safe’ and ‘he protects’, ‘he truly loves’ and ‘means what he says.’
These powerful ideas are communicated through stories – ideas of what a good life looks like, what makes us valuable, when we are loved and approved. The stories adults tell children shape their idea of who they are, their understanding of who God is, and what it means to live as a unique person in the Kingdom of God. We are story creatures. Stories matter because they give meaning to life’s reality.
Lacy Borgo writes in her thought-provoking book Faith Like a Child that,
“The adults who hold the power to keep us safe and healthy also shape our pictures of God.” (p.8)3
These adults – parents, teachers, Sunday school teachers, and religious leaders – were children too. They were immersed in stories that formed them, both cultural and biblical stories. And how they have been shaped and formed as children is often how they shape and form those they lead.
As followers of the Triune God, we claim that the Bible is the word of God and it is foundational to our faith in Christ. The stories of the Bible form our idea of who we are, who God is, and what it means to live in the Kingdom of God. But because of the way our understanding is shaped, our reading of the Bible, too, is colored by our cultural stories. Therefore, there is a need to re-read the scriptures with Jesus of the gospels as a companion – a need to restory our understanding with Jesus. There is no pressure or expectation to be perfect, but an invitation to relook at what scripture truly tells us about who God is, who we are, what God thinks of us, and what kind of life he wants us to live. A good place to begin with is Archbishop Michael Ramsay’s idea, quoted by Trevor Hudson, where he says,
“God is Christ-like and in Him is no un-Christlikeness at all.”4
I wonder what surprises are in store for us when we re-read the scriptures with Jesus from that perspective, and engage with him in the process of restorying.I wonder what treasures we may unravel as we walk through the pages of the Bible with Jesus. I wonder if we’ll find him to be like, even much better than, Aslan.
A wild and passionate lover
who cannot be tamed,
Joyful and full of laughter
Singing over us.
Mysterious and powerful,
Protecting the weak.
Just and righteous,
Standing for the helpless.
Merciful and kind,
Blessing the meek.5
Restorying requires us as adults to give access to God to heal our life-draining ideas of God and ourselves, and allow the healing to flow in us and through us into our communities. This is a journey, a life-long journey lived in friendship with God.
First published in www.companioningcenter.org https://www.companioningcenter.org/blog/restorying-for-restoring on 9th February,2026
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1. Lewis, C. S. (1955). The Magician’s Nephew. Harper Collins.
2. Lewis, C. S. (1951). Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia. Harper Collins.
3. Borgo, Lacy Finn (2023). Faith Like a Child: Embracing Our Lives as Children of God. InterVarsity Press.
4. Hudson, Trevor (2010). Discovering our Spiritual Identity: Practices for God’s Beloved. InterVarsity Press.
5. A song suggestion : Listen to this song by Carolyn Arends https://youtu.be/UfD3tkpu7Kg?si=b9lDsvyGC6zI5J0m
Photo by Beard Kid: https://www.pexels.com/photo/girl-in-summer-16057277/
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