Wandering with Jane Eyre

I have, lately, been enamored with the concept of wandering. I think it all started with the line from the Fellowship of the Ring:

Not all those who wander are lost....

I then discovered that I love the song I Wonder as I Wander*, a very lackadaisical melody, seeming content to just wander through the notes.

Soon after, I picked up Jane Eyre. I had never read this book and was struck by the mention of wandering in the second line.

This led me to picking up the book and purchasing it. I was shocked by the quality of its words, and how riveting the plot line was. I have attempted to read other classics in the past, but this one is the best to date.

As I read it today, I stumbled along a passage that struck me. I was amazed at the truth I read in it. Truth was not what I was expecting here, but as I wandered through the pages, I discovered it:

"She has been unkind to you, no doubt; because, you see, she dislikes your cast of character, as Miss Scatcherd does mine: but how minutely you remember all she has done and said to you! What singularly deep impression her injustice seems to have made on your heart! No ill usage so brands its record on my feelings. Would you not be happier if you tried to forget her severity, together with the passionate emotions it excited? Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs. We are, and must be, one and all, burdened with faults in this world; but the time will soon come when, I trust, we shall put them off in putting off our corruptible bodies; when debasement and sin will fall from us with this cumbrous frame of flesh, and only the spark of the spirit will remain,--the impalpable principle of life and thought, pure as when it left the Creator to inspire the creature: whence it came it will return; perhaps again to be communicated to some being higher than man--perhaps to pass through gradations of glory, from the pale human soul to brighten to the seraph! Surely it will never, on the contrary, be suffered to degenerate from man to fiend? No; I cannot believe that: I hold another creed; which no one ever taught me, and which I seldom mention; but in which I delight, and to which I cling: for it extends hope to all: it makes Eternity a rest--a mighty home, not a terror and an abyss. Besides, with this creed, I can so clearly distinguish between the criminal and his crime; I can so sincerely forgive the first while I abhor the last: with this creed revenge never worries my heart, degradation never too deeply disgusts me, injustice never crushes me too low: I live in calm, looking to the end." (70-71)

Though not all of this seems relevant, I ask you to read it over. I found hope in this passage this morning. I am always on the lookout for Biblical truths in my reading of fiction, and today, Jane Eyre, through the character of Helen Burns, gave me a slice of what I long for. Her words were brought near to my heart, as I have been thinking about the glory of Heaven and how we are to make that our goal. We are aliens here, and we must, MUST, remember that, just as Helen Burns does.

So if not for wandering, I would not have found this passage. I would have passed it by. I would encourage a little wandering in life. It's good for the soul.

*The version I am referring to here is by David Nevue.