The Thread That Never Lies

In George MacDonald's beloved fantasy The Princess and the Goblin, a young princess named Irene receives an extraordinary gift from her mysterious great-great-grandmother: a nearly invisible magical thread. She is told to follow it wherever it leads — through darkness, through unfamiliar passages, through places that seem to go entirely the wrong direction.

At one point, the thread draws Irene into the heart of the goblin mountain itself. Every instinct screams that she is going the wrong way. The darkness is thick. The danger is real. But she keeps her finger on the thread and walks forward anyway.

C.S. Lewis called MacDonald his "master," saying MacDonald's writing had baptized his imagination. It is easy to see why. MacDonald understood what courage truly is — not the absence of fear, but the decision to trust something greater than your own understanding.

The Scriptures are filled with people who followed a thread they could not fully trace. Abraham left without knowing where he was going. Mary said yes without knowing what it would cost. The disciples stepped out of boats onto water.

Courage, for the Christian, is not heroic self-confidence. It is the quiet act of keeping your hand on the thread — trusting that the One who gave it knows where it leads, even when you cannot see.

When God calls you into something dark and unfamiliar, He does not promise a map. He gives you a thread. Follow it.