If centuries of repetition can’t kill their magic, no technological revolution will be able to diminish their importance. They are the stuff of legends, with a symbolism so deep that fiction authors turn to them again and again to fuel the most epic parts of their stories.
The significance and symbolism of these three objects will never die.
M A P
A SCENE
Centuries ago, a cataclysmic weather event buried an entire city underground in a desolate corner of the continent. For generations, rumours about the city have abounded, but no man has ever found concrete evidence for its existence or a credible clue to its exact location.
After your grandfather’s death, you are tasked with going through his documents. When you first flick past a scruffy old piece of paper, you make nothing of it. But its image lingers in your mind. You return to it. Its faded colour suggests a grand age and its markings hint at an artist or expert's touch. But its contents are much more significant than its aesthetics.
It claims to lead the way to the place you were sure didn’t exist. Couldn’t exist. It is a map to the lost city.
A THOUGHT
To have a map is to hold the hand of a pioneer, and to use a map is to follow in his footsteps. Maps only come about because of brave souls who go into unmapped areas – a.k.a. the unknown – and record what they see. They allow others to travel without fear, mystery and danger.
B O O K
A SCENE
While on holiday on the outskirts of Rome, your sister tells you to come with her, late at night, to the crypt of a disused chapel near the sea. You refuse for a few consecutive nights, but her persistence pays off. She leads you along a windy coastal path, and around the back of the beautiful, crumbling chapel. You are shocked to find a small, eerie library.
You gaze at the dusty books on its ornate shelves. You notice epic tales bound in leather cases, handwritten scrolls sealed with wax, and piles of papyrus documents. “Come,” says your sister. “There is one that outshines them all.”
When your sister pushes a decoy painting out of the way, your lay your eyes on it for the first time. It is the original, handwritten copy of the book of Luke, a 2000-year old text, foundational to your civilization. You know only two things for sure: its worth is incalculable and your life has just caught fire.
A THOUGHT
Books are like veins. They carry, to the whole body of the human race, the truth that gives life. It is incomprehensible how much meaning can be packed into one stack of paper and ink: they divulge the secrets of the universe, direct kings in their conquests, and bring the stories of heroic ancestors back to life.
K E Y
A SCENE
One day, you are told something remarkable by your most trustworthy friend.
He tells you that on the busiest of roads in central London, there is a door that has not been opened for hundreds of years. Thousands of people walk and drive past this door every morning and evening with no idea as to the value that lies behind it. It is hidden in plain sight.
Your friend hands you a large, black key, telling you there is great treasure behind the door, and you are the one who must find it. He tells you little else, apart from that you must only attempt to access the door in the dead of night.
The next day, you hear news from the mother of your friend. He has died in mysterious circumstances...
A THOUGHT
To be handed a key is to be told you are worthy of trust. And so it is with the greatest responsibilities and truths of this world: to the one who is trustworthy will be handed the keys to the most valuable things in all the universe.
IT'S ALL LEADING SOMEWHERE
These three symbols, when put together, are extremely potent, forming a vision for life that we are called to follow.
We were born to go out into the world and discover special places (maps). We were created to come face-to-face with the truth and let it change us (books). We were made to enter into places of revelation and find what is most valuable (keys).
But wait, it runs even deeper...
These symbols represent the way (map), the truth (book), and the life (key).
Isn't there One who claimed to be the Way, the Truth and the Life?
He is the Map leading to the country we belong in; He is the Book from which every true word flows; and He is the Key, opening the way to never-ending life in His incorruptible Kingdom.
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