Good Monday Morning Everyone –
I hope that everything is going well for you in this hectic holiday season. I also want to thank those of you who have chosen to take this journey with us through Dickens’, A Christmas Carol. I know that reading a book during this time of the year can be a challenge, one more thing to do when you already don’t have enough time. I know that I’ve felt a pressure while trying to find time to read this book that has been somewhat distracting. And yet, Dickens’ writing is just so good, it has been more than worthwhile.
As a quick aside, I would like to point out that while Jason was nice enough to find this wonderful book for us, he was also nice enough to break the reading sections up where I covered 4 chapters, and he covered one. One chapter. He claims that the number of pages breaks down evenly between us, but I don’t know. J
Anyway, one way or another, we have come to the end of our journey, and as I have stated previously, and as many of you have shared in the comments section, it has been an enjoyable journey indeed.
Looking specifically at chapters 4 and 5, a couple of things stand out to me.
“Please tell me that I can rewrite my future!” Scrooge never says it this way, but it’s what he keeps begging the Spirit to tell him. He is desperate to hear that he still has time to change the course of his life drastically enough to take it in a different place entirely. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever had a moment of clarity break in on you, pushing you to the place where you want nothing more than to transform your way of life? I have. And the best news you can hear in that moment is… “It’s not too late. There’s still time for you to be who you want to be. There’s still time.”
In the final chapter, Scrooge acts out, in his life, the transformation that has taken place in his heart. He makes the most of the time he has left. I love one of the last statements in this book. “Scrooge was better than his word.” Scrooge did more than he pledged to do, was changed more than he realized. In a world where people struggle to barely keep their word, to follow through with their stated commitments, here we have the story of a man who ended up being better than his word, doing far more than he committed to do and be.
I don’t think that there could have been a better way to bring this short little story to a close.
I guess what I’d really like to hear from you is, what lesson are you going to take from this book? How has it changed you?
Looking forward to your responses.
Jarrod
I found several things interesting in the last two chapters. The first was the man who told his wife that Scrooge was dead…..
She was thankful in her soul to hear it, and she said so, with clasped hands. She prayed forgiveness the next moment, and was sorry, but the first was the emotion of her heart.
I thought this was a great description of what we sometimes know is right and what we feel.
The other quote that I thought was great is in the last chapter….
He went to church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and fro, and patted the children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of houses, and up to the windows, and found that everything could yield him pleasure.
This reminded me of the life of Jesus – constantly walking around and observing things. Jesus always had time for people, and the change in Scrooge reminds me that I need to be more Christ-like as I walk my daily life.
I’ve been thinking a lot about people having a change of heart this week. With Scrooge, it took 4 spirits visiting him. His heart had been so hardened, that it took nothing short of a miracle to spur the change in his heart. There are so many others who needed a miracle if they ever had hopes of changing… Paul is just the first and most obvious that comes to mind.
I also wonder if there were those who were specifically praying for Scrooge? Probably so, however it seems to me as the community had accepted his cold-heartedness and never really had hopes of him changing. Again, same with Paul.
There are so many in my life right now who are in need of one of those rare encounters with the miraculous. The question is this: Do I have hope? Or have I just accepted that this is the way things are going to be. Honestly, it changes minute-by-minute, but I must say I’d like to be surprised as the people in A Christmas Carol were.
Thanks for the story of hope.