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I fell in love with George MacDonald, the 19th century Scottish minister and author who greatly influenced C.S. Lewis, in my teens when my sister started bringing home his novels (the classic reprint series updated by Michael Phillips). I have read a couple dozen of his books since then, including The Baron’s Apprenticeship.
In this story, Richard Tuke is a young man, the son of a bookbinder, fascinated by old books. He begins buying decaying volumes deemed worthless by others and becomes skilled at repairing them, so much so that an estate owner hires him to move in and repair the books in his vast personal library. I hadn’t even finished the first page of the novel when I was moved by this passage:
Love and power combined made him look on these dilapidated, slow-wasting abodes of human thought and delight with healing compassion—indeed, with the passion of healing.
The worse gnawed by the tooth of insect-time, the farther down any choice book in the steep decline of years, the more intent was Richard on having it. More and more skilful he grew, not only in rebinding, but in restoring the very tone of their constitution. Through love he moved from artisan to artist.
While the obvious take-away here is that this is a beautiful way for anyone to approach his or her work, these few sentences spoke to me in another way. I saw a breathtaking picture of how God takes damaged lives, perhaps discarded or unappreciated by others, and lovingly, carefully restores them. Only a master artist like God could transform us into something even more lovely than our original state. With “love and power combined,” like a bookbinder, He sometimes takes us apart just a little more before putting us back together. (I've been on that workshop table. I know what it's like!)
If you're feeling worn out and run down, it might be time to let the Master Artist gently put you back together.
Have a wonderful Monday!
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