A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
“I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea…”
The story of Ebenezer Scrooge and his unforgettable Christmas Eve is so familiar to most of us that we can almost forget the point: No matter how our life has gone up until this moment, it is never too late to change. Even in old age, it is not too late to live the life we should have been living all along.
In Dickens’ tale, Scrooge, a grumpy old miser, is visited by four ghosts on one special night…first an apparition of his dear old friend, Jacob Marley, and then three other ghosts who show Scrooge his past, his present, and – if he does not change – his future.
The ghost of Christmas Past reminds him how he once enjoyed life’s pleasures. The ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge his current deplorable state. The final ghost, the ghost of Christmas to Come foretells the likely future outcome of his selfish ways.
In some ways, A Christmas Carol is not so much a Christmas story as it is a New Year’s story. For those of us who want to change the course of our life, for those of us who want this year’s resolutions to actually mean something, we need to go through something of an Ebenezer-like process.
As you delve into this classic tale, you will find yourself encouraged and inspired to mine your own past for its lessons, search your present for its patterns, and project where those patterns will lead you in the future. If those patterns and behaviors lead to unhappiness, those patterns and behaviors can and must be altered to lead us to a better journey’s end.
