I had another 'NO WAY!!' moment. An 'I do not believe that has just happened!' moment. A coincidence that stops you in your tracks and at the moment of realisation, you laugh in disbelief.
I bought a book. Not an unusual occurrence. I would buy lots more books if I could but I have to restrain myself. I am a shameless raider of shelves. I love nothing more than poking about in a good second hand book shop, rummaging through piles and rows, hunting for copies of old editions. Among those on my list of items to search for is the Puffin Classic, The Princess and The Goblin by George MacDonald. I had already read it on my Kindle and I'm still waiting to find a hard copy but whilst browsing the classic fiction section in my favourite fusty Belfast book shop, I found several different copies of its sequel, The Princess and Curdie. I laid the books out to have a good look and compare the covers, choosing the one that was least marked and most intact. Happy with my choice (especially since the cover is illustrated by Pauline Baynes), I paid £2 and took it home where it sat on a shelf for several months until one day, I decided to pack it as holiday reading. Before tucking it into my bag, I opened it up at the fly leaf in order to print my name in the corner as is my habit and for the first time, noticed the name of a previous owner inscribed at the top of the page. It took a second for the name to register. There in neat, loopy schoolgirl handwriting was the maiden name of my friend J! Of course, there may well be many people of that same name but if I had bought this book eight years ago, the name would have meant nothing to me as we hadn't met and of all the thousands of books in the entire shop, I unknowingly chose one that might once have belonged to someone I now see all the time. Such a strange feeling! As if the past was connecting with the present.
Or there's the time that a friend shared the story of a very personal written gift that she had made and printed for another mutual friend. A week later I was sitting in that same mutual friend's house and discovered that on a bookshelf right at my elbow was the very gift that I had heard the story of a week previously. I recognised the printed image on the cover and exclaimed in surprise, explaining to my friend that I knew what it was and who it was from. She generously told me to pick it up and read the touching words written inside. I had no hesitation in doing so as I already knew what those words would be, having already been told of them by the author and I felt overcome by a sudden sense of deep connection with my sisters in Christ. The feeling of being knit together, part of a web of relationships and knowing myself to be truly blessed to count these women as good friends who were sharing with me their love for each other.
Or there's the time that I bought a New Living Translation of the New Testament for 75p in a Save the Children shop. A paperback copy with an extended index giving guidance and highlighting key verses on various aspects of the Christian life, much of which at the time, I barely glanced at. One year later however, I listened to a kids mission beach talk all about God keeping his promises and how he will keep his promise that I will have eternal life. No more than half an hour later, I read in my bargain Bible these words, 'for God loved J so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that if J believes in him she will not perish but have eternal life.' There in black and white that very promise printed personally for me which had gone unnoticed up until then. Of all the names that could have been chosen and printed it happened to be my name. An awesome coincidence that filled up the storehouses of my soul with joy and encouragement. I am connected for eternity to God through his Son and it felt to me that he had written it down and published a Bible just to tell me that! It had a great impact on me and the timing of that coincidence was suffused with meaning. Of course there are many other people who have the same Christian name as me. I wonder how many of them also have a copy of this particular Bible.
There are other moments I could tell you about. Other stories of coincidence and connection. Each of them left me with a feeling that went beyond the immediate gasp of incredulity. I'm wondering what the significance of these moments might be. Many will smile wryly and wave dismissively, saying they don't mean anything at all and others will openly scorn but I imagine Jesus seeing what's about to happen on each occasion, grinning in anticipation and thinking, 'she is going to love this!', watching in delight as the moment unfolds. I thank God for every single one of these 'coincidences'. They make me laugh. They make me smile. It's as if little tiny tears or pinprick holes appear in a veil and the sparkling, shimmering rainbow colours of heaven glint and catch your eye, 'the glory of a mystic sunlight coming directly from another world''.1 They stir something within me and draw my attention to something invisible. The hidden things of real life in Christ become more perceptible. We are beckoned towards a more profound and deeper reality. Come farther up and farther in, to a place where colours are truest, and the light is brightest. If we are to follow the rays through the chinks, they lead to the great Source of all life, in whom all things live and move and have their being. We are connected - to each other and to Jesus.
'Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.'
(Colossians 3:11)
Afer all, this is only a shadow or copy of the real world. To me, these 'coincidences' are reminders that we should think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth (Colossians 3:2). They are reminders to be watchful, alert and ready for the ultimate moment of realisation when Christ will be revealed to the whole world and we will stand in awe as we see for the first time, the breath-taking grandeur of the extent of our connectedness through him and to him. We will cry like C S Lewis's unicorn in The Last Battle, "I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it til now....Come farther up, come farther in!"1 Bernard L Manning, 'Hymns of Wesley and Wyatt:Five Papers.' 1932↩
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