The Shelter of Repetition

If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all. ~Oscar Wilde

 

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This week I sent the link to a new knitting book, Green Gable Knits, to one of my friends.   Tracy wrote back, "I just laid down Emily of New Moon. I wish I knew how many times I've read it. It's like meeting an old friend, sitting down and going through all your memories together, laughing and crying like you did when they first happened."

I knew just what she meant--there are some books in which the characters are real. When I lay down the book, I feel like I could walk next door and continue our conversation. When I was a child, I was a playmate of Pippi Longstocking -- her wild red hair, outrageous antics and oh, a monkey for a pet. I loved being a "thing-finder" right beside her.

I grew up a bit and Little Women's Jo was my confidant. I identified

with her tomboyish ways (after all, my mother despaired of ever making a lady out of me), and restless spirit. You could always find her curled in a corner, completely absorbed in a book. As a 12-year-old I totally understood and shared her dreams for the future:

"I want to do something splendid before I go into my castle, something heroic or wonderful that won't be forgotten after I'm dead. I don't know what, but I'm on the watch for it, and mean to astonish you all some day. I think I shall write books, and get rich and famous, that would suit me, so that is my favorite dream." 

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These days, my reading is more grown up. But that doesn't mean I've left my childhood friends behind. There are still days I want to braid my hair in pigtails and hang with Pippi. I want to do something tomboyish with Jo or spend a bit of time imagining with Anne. 

Because when you are imagining, you might as well imagine something worthwhile. ~Anne

This month I've read Jerry Jenkins' I, Saul. He made Paul come alive for me. I wanted to visit Paul in his final jail cell and absorb his passion and gift of writing.  

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Paul had never penned a simple letter to a friend or a church without loading it with truth so poignant and beautifully written that the whole of the body of believers benefited from it. Better than that, Paul's thoughts and reasoning seemed to be born of his rich relationship with Christ.

The world is full of books.  We all have our favorite book characters. But Jane Austin or Lucy Maud Montgomery will never compare to the characters in God's Word. Esther, a royal queen who risked her life for such a time as this; to save her people -- the Jews.  Ruth lost a dear husband, yet voiced  these words -- words I spoke to my RB on our wedding day:

Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

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I'd love, like Mary, to sit at Jesus' feet and just feed my soul. I'm a bit of a Martha, but trying to learn the Mary-way. I'd like to soak in Jesus' urging for specific prayer:

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Luke 11:9-10

There is shelter in the Word of God -- sheltering love. It encourages, chastises and instructs. And I can read it over and over, never tiring of the repetition. The words between my leather cover or those read for me from the speakers of my computer, refresh and renew me daily.  

How sweet your words taste to me;

they are sweeter than honey.

What about you? What are you reading? What book character would you like to hang with today? 

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