be persuaded to read persuasion

So I started Persuasion by Jane Austin about 3 days ago, but since I had to study for my exam (on the economic history of sweden) I couldn't really indulge until yesterday, when I spent from 2 to 7 pm reading and then finished it this morning while doing laundry. If you have not read it already, I highly recommend it. I will not ruin the ending or anything in this entry, but it evokes some thoughts on romance so I will allow myself to ponder my reaction here. I hope you find it "agreeable." Reading austin always makes one desire a most illustrious and graceful rhetoric, preferably with a poignant british accent. (sooo excited about england/scotland!)

Often in life the things we have to wait for are more rewarding than those we don't. Granted some things are inherently good, and no amount of speed or delay will change that they are so. Yet sometimes it is the waiting period that makes the end result so much more valuable. I don't think it is good for anyone to always have what they want, as soon as they want it. Modern technology has sped up the pace of life so much that perhaps we expect all our desires to be met instantaneously, but I don't think that is a best possible outcome. Something is certainly gained in waiting.

For example, I love Christmas. Perhaps even more than the day, I love the season preceeding it. The idea of advent, living in anticipation of Christ's return to earth, surely agrees with me in that something is gained by our waiting for Christ's return, and while we wait, looking forward to it and perservering through the troubles of this life. I can enjoy December 25th much more if I have been living in anticipation since at least Thanksgiving. I used to remove a link in the red and green construction paper chain each day. I hate it when holidays sneak up on me. Something is lost.

I started by saying I would talk about romance, but I think you've already made the connection. The first thing Corinthians 13 says about love is that it is patient. Another word for patience, long-suffering, has always made me pause. "Long" and "suffering": I don't know anyone who likes long suffering. If we must suffer, we want it to be over as quickly as possible. In persuasion, Anne has been "suffering" for 8 years when we first meet her as a character. Longing for someone she loves but can't be with, believing him lost forever, possibly married to another. She talks a lot about constancy. It seems to me both the gift and the curse of strong feelings that we don't get over them quickly. Yet another good reason for marriage to be forever. Hearts which cleave to each other and become one are not meant to be parted.

Still I maintain that a romance that endures trials, separations, and difficulties is much the better for it. I agree with Mrs. Smith (a friend of Anne's) that our true characters are revealed in the painful and awful sitations rather than the sunny day. And of course, anything which we have long waited for gains even more value because of the wait. In all my grown years of coming and going from home, I find that I am most happy to see my family, our pets, and that lovely grey colonial on the day I arrive from a long separation. I can appreciate them more after feeling their absence.

One song that always makes me reflect is The Wait by Built to Spill. You should go listen to it because the music really adds a lot but here are the lyrics:

You wait/ You wait/ You wait for summer, Then you wait for rain/ You wait/ You wait/ You wait for darkness then you wait for day/ Yeah, you wait

You wait/ You wait/And she said patience, patience, darling/ Patience, patience, it will come

You wait/ You wait/ You wait for August, Then you wait for May/ You wait/ You wait/ You wait to get up, Then you wait to play/ You wait

You wait/ You wait for someone that'll make the waiting worth the wait
You wait/You wait/ You wait

I don't know exactly why I put the whole song in except that I think it rings so true. Perhaps another aspect of waiting, patience, and long-suffering that should be discussed is what we do in the meantime. If we don't know how to enjoy the days going by in anticipation, we won't be truly able to enjoy the event/person/etc. that we've been waiting all this time for. As soon as one thing arrives, we'll start longing for something else! It's so characteristic of our nature, and daily contentment is not. I spent most of my younger years believing that my life would finally "start" in college. Then there is my tendancy even now to think that my life can't have abundance until I'm married, and so in some aspects I'm waiting for my life to "start" then.

I guess what this song reminds me of is the need to be content everyday even as we wait. We are not guaranteed a tomorrow, and while planning for the future is wise, it is also wise to be thankful for all our present circumstances, if for no other reason than that God is in control and is working all things together for our good.

And now I should really go to bed. I recommend both Persuasion and The Idiot (which I just finished reading as well). I also read Candide (Voltaire) at my corridormate's urging, which is satirical and sobering. It's a bit unrelated to this entry here but perhaps I'll discuss it in a future post. So be content and wait for someone who will make the waiting worth the wait.