The Dragon Who Forgot He Was a Boy

In C.S. Lewis's The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the boy Eustace Scrubb falls asleep on a dragon's treasure hoard while nursing greedy, self-pitying thoughts. When he wakes, he has become a dragon — his inner selfishness made visible in scales and claws. Desperate to shed this terrible new skin, Eustace scratches at the layers himself. He peels one off, then another, then another. But beneath each discarded skin lies yet another, just as thick and reptilian as the last.

Finally, the great lion Aslan says, "You will have to let me undress you." His claws cut far deeper than Eustace ever dared go himself. It hurts terribly. But when Aslan tears the dragon skin away and plunges the boy into clear water, Eustace emerges as himself again — tender-skinned, vulnerable, and finally free.

We spend years trying to peel away our own false identities — the masks of performance, the armor of self-sufficiency, the scales we grew to protect old wounds. We scratch at the surface and call it progress. But the transformation never goes deep enough until we surrender to the One whose hands, though piercing, are gentle with purpose.

The Almighty does not simply improve us. He strips away what we were never meant to be and restores who He created us to become. The work stings. But on the other side of that holy undressing, we find our truest selves — children of the living God.