May 10, 2013
Continuing the Fight
By Mrs. Amanda Hallock
Sixth Grade Language Arts and Literature
…in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a
defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you…
~ 1 Peter 3:15
As I was reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle with my students, I was particularly
impressed with the following passage and the resonance of its message to me personally and to
our school at large.
“It’s the Thing!” Charles Wallace cried. “It’s the Dark Thing we saw from the mountain
peak on Uriel when we were riding on Mrs. Whatsit’s back!”
“Did it just come?” Meg asked in agony, unable to take her eyes from the sickness of the
shadow which darkened the beauty of the earth.
Mrs. Whatsit sighed. “No, Meg. It hasn’t just come. It has been there for a great many
years. That is why your planet is such a troubled one.”
“I hate it!” Charles Wallace cried passionately. “I hate the Dark Thing!”
“But what is it?” Calvin demanded. “We know that it’s evil, but what is it?”
“Yyouu hhave ssaidd itt!” Mrs. Which’s voice rang out. “Itt iss Eevill. Itt iss thee
Ppowers of Ddarrkknesss!”
“But what’s going to happen?” Meg’s voice trembled. “Oh, please, Mrs. Which, tell us
what’s going to happen!”
“Wee wwill cconnttinnue tto ffightt!”
I could not contain my excitement as the allusion to Ephesians 6 materialized from this
passage. Just as Meg and Calvin and Charles are standing on a distant planet watching the
Dark Thing hover over their own dear Earth, I am reminded that my fight, too, is “against the
cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
places.” As Mrs. Which boldly declares a continuance to the fight, I pictured myself donning
that spiritual armor ready to join the line in the march against the shadow. This connection is
not something I desire only for myself, however. I long for my students to feel it as well; I
want them to see themselves fastening on and buckling about and taking up truth,
righteousness, and faith for a cause that extends beyond their little sphere of space. I long to
see them march forward confidently to the battle by reason of the hope that lies within them.
Hope is that small word upon which so much of the Christian life is hinged and one to which
our April retreat at Southwind with the sixth graders was largely focused. Using 1 Peter
3:15−16 as our theme verse for the camp, much of our time in group sessions and devotions
and quiet time was spent contemplating ways to grow closer in our personal walk with the
Savior. Our students, and leaders alike, were challenged to deepen their understanding of
Christ through consistent, intimate time in Scripture and prayer. Truly there are rich personal
benefits in the cultivation of a deeper faith; however, sharing that deeper faith with others is far
more significant. In drawing closer to Christ, the hope within us, we ready ourselves to make a
defense—we prepare our hearts to share with anyone who asks. By sharing this hope, the light
that is Christ, we as soldiers in his army are able to most effectively push back the forces of
darkness and to reclaim territory for God’s kingdom. While I enjoyed watching my students
spend time with one another around food and games, it was the nurturing of their spirits
through this message that I valued most.
That there is indeed an oppressive darkness overshadowing our world cannot be denied. Its
existence is all too real as we survey the landscape around us. Perhaps we stand, like Meg and
Charles and Calvin, watching Evil affect our home planet, pervading what seems to be every
facet of human existence; and, like the children in the novel, perhaps we even find ourselves
sometimes caught in the icy clutches of darkness. Perhaps we begin to grow cold, numb, and
frozen as waves of evil knock against us mercilessly; perhaps we are tempted to lay down our
sword and die in the midst of an unrelenting sea of hopelessness.
Perhaps. Yet a good soldier, who is swept up in the torrent of battle, beaten and scarred by the
opposing force, and weary, is not necessarily a defeated soldier. Rather a soldier in the
trenches, feeling intimately all the fiery darts of the wicked as the price of waging war for the
king of kings, should take comfort and strength from the knowledge that in the midst of the
greatest darkness the light shines brightest. So let us then take up our swords and our shields in
joyful defense of the gospel as educators, students, parents, children—sons and daughters of
our heavenly Father. Let us commit to doing battle against the dark in the strength of his
might, sharing light and hope. Perhaps then we can share in the triumphant dissolution of evil
and say, as the Happy Medium does in L’Engle’s novel, “You see! It can be overcome! It is
being overcome all the time!”
Post Tenebras Lux