In yesterday’s mail I received a book that I had given to one of my African students more than forty years ago. Somehow that book found its way back to America and into the hands of an old friend in Illinois who posted it to me. It feels good to hold it in my hands. It is like being united with an old friend. Inside the cover is my father-in-law’s name in his handwriting. I found notes in the margins that I had written. Unlike what we were taught when we were still illiterate, books are made to write in. The margins are there for us to dialogue with the author. What saddened me was no one else had added anything in forty years. There were no underlinings nor comments that I had not made. The book is entitled Christ’s Object Lessons.
It is a grand book about the parables of Jesus. It must have wondered why no one was talking with it. Perhaps it thought everyone knew what it had to say and that it no longer had purpose. I want to dispel that erroneous thought. Tonight I shall read a few chapters and add fresh notes to the margins. I will restore its sense of self-worth and value, for it contains an extremely valuable message.
Books are useless if all they do is decorate our homes. But if we open them and allow them to speak to us they become alive. They integrate with our thoughts and give us fresh perspectives on life and life’s challenges. My book will be happy this evening as it realizes it is feeding me again and revitalizing my understanding of Jesus’ parables. I wish it could tell me how it got back to America and into the hands of one of my old friends who cared enough to send it to me.
Written by Roger Bothwell on March 26, 2014
Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org