There is no frigate like a book.

"I couldn't put the book down" could possibly be the best words an English teacher could hear. This, of course, depends on the book in question. If one of my students said he couldn't put down Twilight or the latest Nicholas Sparks novel, I would box his ears and burn those books, but hearing this about Charles Dickens' Great Expectations... delightful!

This was the reaction I got this morning from one of my students upon arriving at school, and as we near the end of the novel, I'm anticipating some profitable discussion on many of the books ideas and assumptions. The protagonist Pip, a man with besetting sins to which we can all relate (discontentment and pride, namely), meets his unrequited love Estella after eleven years apart, assuming she has continued her wedded life and that she will want nothing to do with Pip. Broken by her life since their separation, she says to him upon their reunion, "suffering has been stronger than all other teaching."

Although I feel particularly unqualified to agree or disagree with Estella based on personal experience, this idea of suffering as sanctification is a Biblical one that I've witnessed in the lives of many that I love. We all have our "thorns" that result in either rebellion against God or utter dependence on Him. And interesting, too, that humility is often a result of suffering. The most prideful man can be brought low when God brings suffering into his life--and that's what happens in Great Expectations. No other experience would instruct Estella but suffering. Without it, she wouldn't have become the character she was by the end of the novel. In the same way, suffering is a providential tool used by God to teach us, to humble us, to remind us that while He loves us, we're still residents of a fallen world that bears witness to our depravity. And yet He's gracious to His people, "showing love to thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments."

I'm always reminded in classic pieces of literature like this that God has given us a great privilege to enjoy, meditate on, and learn from the insight and wisdom (or the foolishness, in some cases) of these authors. And if you think reading such beautiful literature is a form of suffering? Just remember what Estella said.