PUDDLEGLUM THE MARSHWIGGLE-
Having a bad case of the mulligrubbs.
Merry Monday by Parris Bailey
“The Hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.” Ezek. 37:1-3
The Land of Narnia has captivated my heart for years. From reading the books to my children at bedtime, to seeing the movies, and relating to the people that CS Lewis so elegantly portrayed, I have been spellbound. I found myself thinking about Puddleglum the other day with all this rain we have been getting. The mulligrubs is defined as having a “drag your feet, head splitting, rain cloud over your head day”. (wacky world def.)
I am not sure what a marshwiggle is but he is describe as having webbed feet and hands and had a unusually gloomy disposition to say the least, poor guy. Here are some of his quotes for you to get a better understanding of what sort of nature Puddleglum had: “Very likely, what with enemies, and mountains, and rivers to cross, and losing our way, and next to nothing to eat, and sore feet, we’ll hardly notice the weather.” And “The bright side of it is… that if we break our necks getting down the cliff, then we’re safe from being drowned in the river.”
Ezekiel was facing a valley full of depleted people (Puddleglum spirit).This is how they describe their condition: “Our bones are dried, our hope is lost and we are cut off.” Ezek. 37:11. Many of us have been found in the valley of Puddleglum the marshwiggle, or either personally surrounded with a brood of Puddleglums. The mulligrubs get on us when we have stopped drinking from His goodness and live off rotten manna, or our hope is shattered by some unforeseen event, and we find ourselves cut off from our Christian friends and our church. And the next thing we know we are living among all the other Puddleglums who “told us so”. Spurgeon said; “But to make them live spiritually it needs the divine afflatus from the breath of the Almighty, the divine pneuma, the divine Spirit, the divine wind should blow on them, and then they would live.” It might be high time to allow some good Holy Ghost wind to blow your wigwam down and crawl out of the swamps. Breathe upon us and wipe out the “spirit of unbelief”. Even Puddleglum at the end received a fresh touch, let’s listen to what he says; ” That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia.”
So even if you feel at the moment your life is still in the dumper, let your bones start to rattle and shake, and grow new flesh. You might be surprised how even a Puddleglum can effect their world.