George MacDonald and the God of Patience

I'm a big fan of George MacDonald (so were G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis). Recently I came across a quote from MacDonald's novel, There and Back:

"God is the God of patience, and waits and waits for the child who keeps him waiting and will not open the door."

The novel is a fascinating study of family life, unhappy marriage, sacrificial love, friendship, rejection, regret.... If you want a thought-provoking story about life and character, read it. Take it on vacation. Let the sound of the waves, like the heartbeat of the earth, be the background music for your thoughts. Seeing the quote reminded me of the novel which can be read or downloaded online. (Go here.) 

Here's a brief description from Project Gutenberg:

"There & Back" by George MacDonald is a novel written in the late 19th century. The story revolves around Sir Wilton Lestrange, a baronet who has married a woman of unknown origins, Lady Lestrange, and explores their relationship and the complexities surrounding their family life, especially with their child, Richard Lestrange. The narrative delves into themes of love, regret, and the consequences of familial connections, particularly focusing on the contrasting characters within this family dynamic. At the start of the book, the circumstances surrounding Sir Wilton and Lady Lestrange's marriage are presented through the lens of societal judgment and personal disappointment. Sir Wilton displays a profound disconnection from his wife and their newborn child, revealing his disdain for parenthood and the idea of legacy. As Lady Lestrange dies shortly after childbirth, the nurse Jane Tuke kidnaps the child to protect him from the disdainful reception he might face from his father and stepmother. The opening chapters highlight the tension between familial obligation and social expectation, as well as the struggles of characters who love fiercely yet face deep societal scorn. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

There are so many elements in the story that apply to modern life. Fathers reject their children and even urge the mothers to kill them. Like Wilton Lestrange, the rich often look with contempt on the "deplorables" who serve them. Here's just one example.

Jane Tuke, the nurse, and her husband, a bookbinder, raise Richard as their son. He has no  knowledge of his higher roots in the nobility. He learns hard work and integrity from these courageous souls, something his biological father lacks, and something rampant in our own modern culture. 

Again, I urge you to read MacDonald's novel. I wonder if Tolkien read it and got the subtitle for The Hobbit: There and Back Again, from the novel. Everyone has a personal story that involves relationships with family and others. We can never experience everything in our own story, but we can be exposed to so much by reading the stories of others, both true and fictional. There and Back has much to teach us, as the quote I started with illustrates. God is the God of patience. He pursues each one of us:

 ...with unhurrying chase, And unperturbèd pace, Deliberate speed, majestic instancy...  (The Hound of Heaven by Francis Thompson)

Will we open the door or keep Him waiting until it's too late! The answer is up to us.