Happy Endings

 

The paper is coarse, many pages marked with age spots. The cover is thick and heavy, conveying a sense of timeless permanence. The illustrations, despite their own age spots, are delightful, depicting an age which carried its own weight of darkness and injustice.

Fragile with homesickness, I purchased this first edition of Dickens’ David Copperfield for £9 over fifty years ago in Shrewsbury, which I was rather aimlessly visiting during the Christmas break from Stirling University, where I was an exchange student. Nine pounds was a lot of money to me, so the purchase was an impulsive self-indulgence. I have treasured it over the decades, but although I studied Dickens at uni and have read David Copperfield at least a couple of times, I had never read that first edition copy.

So I am reading it now, savouring the delicious descriptions of characters both appealing and revolting. I’ve been pacing myself, limiting my reading to a couple of chapters at a time to avoid the temptation to pick up speed to reach the denouement. With Dickens, the many incredible coincidences can be forgiven and even relished because of the beautiful detail of the story. Now, after weeks of working through it, I am approaching the end, anticipating the joy of seeing the sweep of this epic story tied up with a red ribbon, culminating in a happy ending despite the many sorrows along the way.

Perhaps we are all fragile with homesickness these days, living in a world increasingly dark and threatening, full of misery, injustice and insecurity. This is one of those moments to invest in a deep dive into the Scriptures, also full of vivid descriptions of villains and normal people who make mistakes, as well as heroes who trust God despite all the odds: Moses, Abraham, Peter and Paul. It is a story of which we are all a part, in which we are invited to see ourselves more clearly in the light of our perfect Saviour. A story which is also full of amazing coincidences (haven’t I experienced so many in my own life?) and which is – will one day be – tied up with the most amazing red ribbon of all: the redemption of the whole world by our loving Lord Jesus Christ.

I walk out into this beautiful day with a song of thanksgiving in my heart…looking forward to those final forty pages of David Copperfield later this afternoon!