CHAP Treasures: Andrew Pudewa

Now that I’m engrossed in the Pre-K/ K/ 1st grade world, I sometimes get real lonesome for that good old academic talk: you know, all the theory, essays, and composition of grad school and college. Well, this past weekend, Andrew Pudewa’s sessions kicked up the dirt of my past English trail and I felt like I was listening to an old friend.

The director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing, Mr. Pudewa was full of charisma, intelligence, practical advice, and – get this – the Holy Spirit (now that’s not something I remember seeing in college…)

Most uplifting was his session entitled Fairy Tales and the Moral Imagination, in which he spoke about the high value of fairy tales in developing our understanding of the gospel,

of expecting Good to triumph over evil,

and of relishing a “virtual reality” that is usually more “real” than “reality” itself.

In a culture packed with virtual realities and confused archetypes, I happily read the fairy tales to my daughters who – as if they are stirred by the Holy Spirit himself – have always loved them.

Of course, it’s just my opinion, but over the past several years, I’ve been thinking that perhaps the Lord is digging up these old, old tales to awaken our children’s hearts and get them ready for the King’s return and the true happily-ever-after. Perhaps they, of all generations, must be well-acquainted with the face of evil, the weapons of battle, and the vision of true beauty.

It’s interesting to watch the enemy “imitate” God’s move through ugly tales that exonerate dragons, witches, and vampires, dulling children’s response to evil and distracting them from true heroics and valor. What a tactic: to cause the children to stop hoping that good will triumph over evil.

May our children – who read beautiful tales about good kings and valiant warriors; who identify evil as evil and good as good; who know implicitly that good wins – be fully prepared when the King returns, justice is wrought, and tears are wiped away. And may they proclaim this Story to ones who’ve only heard the former…