Are you a puddle glum?
I can hear you saying, “What is a puddle glum? I’m not a puddle glum. That doesn’t sound like a good thing to be.”
It sounds that way. But being a puddle glum is actually a gift.
Puddleglum is a Marsh-wiggle, a fictional character from C.S. Lewis’s, Chronicles of Narnia – The Silver Chair. In the story of the Silver Chair the main characters, Eustace and Jill, are accompanied by Puddleglum on a journey to find and free the rightful heir of Narnia who has been imprisoned under a spell of deception by the Lady of the Green Kirtle.
At first glance Puddleglum is not a striking character. He is neither handsome nor charismatic. In fact he is pessimistic and constantly casting a shadow of dismalness over their journey. But of the three intrepid journeyers, it is Puddleglum who becomes the mainstay of steadiness, vision, and constancy. It is Puddleglum who remembers the instructions of Aslan and speaks them out at the most crucial moments of the story.
The moment that solidifies him in my heart as a hero comes after they have successfully freed the prince from the delusion and slavery that he has been trapped in by the evil Lady of the Green. They must still face her before they can leave Underland. In the facing she begins to weave a fresh web of deception while burning her incense to confuse and cloud their minds, distracting them from the fresh revelation of truth they have just attained. She begins to convince them of many things they have long known to be true. Things such as, there is no sun and there is no sky.
It is in this moment that Puddleglum, falling prey to her deceptive tactics as well, begins to grasp for a sliver of the revealed truth that had previously steadied and stayed him. He does something incredible…. Puddleglum sticks his foot in the fire!!! He shoves his large, strange, webbed foot into the flames and snuffs out the witch’s incense – burning his flesh in the process. He does this willingly. He does this heroically. The shock and pain is enough to jolt him out from the power of the evil spell. The pain reminds him of who he is, what is real, the mission he has been given, and whom he truly serves.
And the stench of his burning flesh does something else. It wakes up the others from the spreading deception that has been covering them over as well. All of them, Puddleglum, Eustace, Jill, and the Prince become awakened to Truth!!!!
Such a powerful image from a story that speaks to these days we are living in. Are you being lulled into submission to the lies of the enemy? Are you allowing the fear, anxiety, and insecurity of this present age to cloud over the revelation of truth that the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of the Living God has revealed to your heart?
I have a remedy!
No, I’m telling you to put your foot or any part of you into a fire. But I am telling you to say no to your flesh.
Matthew 16:24, “Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”
When you deny your flesh (your-self) you are in effect, killing it or burning it. When you choose obedience to a good and higher authority over your own desire you are burning your flesh.
Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
How is this done?
First of all, position yourself under the authority of God’s Word. Let the Word of God become the scalpel with which the Great Physician (Jesus) does His surgery in your heart, mind and soul. Position yourself under your parents if you are a child. God has given you that authority as a covering and a guide.
Position yourself under your husband if you are a wife. God has given you a gift in your husband as someone you can lean into for support, covering, and guidance. And a miraculous thing can happen when you and your husband are united as one under God’s plans and purposes… as you lean into him, you become a support to him as well. You become a comfort to him in times of trouble as well as him to you.
Ephesians 5:23-27, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”
If you have neither wife, husband nor parents then know that you are not alone in these times. Know that through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, He has made a way for you to be connected with the Father. Psalms 68:8, “God sets the solitary in families;
He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.” This makes you a member of the family of God and you are not alone in this world.
Position yourself under the leadership of your Church, your pastors. God honors those who honor others and there is reward in that honoring. When opportunities are presented to you from your Pastors and leaders, lean into them. Do everything you can to keep yourself from shrinking back. God has something beautiful hidden in your “Yes”.
Ephesians 5:20-21, “…giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.”
Her “Yes”
This “Yes” is something I have learned from one of my pastoral leaders and have begun to attempt to apply to my own walk. She told me years ago that when her pastors ask her to do something the answer is always, “Yes.” (Obviously, this applies to anything that doesn’t violate God’s Word. This leader has positioned herself under Godly leaders.)
Her “Yes” has opened up windows of blessing and reward in her own walk and ministry that are innumerable. Now she is the leader who I am privileged to give my “Yes” to as unto the LORD.
I would encourage you to begin positioning yourself in a posture of willingness to the plan of God. Where is HE asking you to obey? Is it in an area that may be uncomfortable for you? Are you afraid of messing up? Are you afraid of looking or sounding foolish? It may be something a Godly leader has asked you to do. It may be something the LORD is asking you to say no to. In saying no to that thing, or habit, or tendency, you are really saying “YES” to a greater goodness.
So be a Puddleglum. He is true and steady and sure. He knows the signs and seeks for them so that he may follow them. He looks not to the things of this world and its comforts but he finds comfort and reassurance when suffering comes because he knows that it is refining his character.
James 1:2-4, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
Let’s be the Puddleglummiest of them all!
Dear Heavenly Father, lead and guide us Your ways of truth. May the things of this earth grow ever and strangely dim in the light of your glory and grace. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Journeying Home 