Introduction
I chose to reflect on the miracles motif in Peace Like A River, because it caught my attention and by annotating and reflecting about it I will seek to have a deeper understanding of it. So, in order to begin my reflection, I must first annotate the word miracles. This is an important word since it gives meaning to one of the major motifs in the book. As we read in the beginning of the book Reuben, the narrator and the son of the Jeremiah Land, says “I now think of my survival as my father’s first miracle” (p. 5). His survival was the first out of many miracles he later describes in the story. But what is a miracle? The New Oxford American Dictionary defines miracle as, “a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency: the miracle of rising from the grave” (New Oxford, p. 1089). In the story, Reuben has witnessed his father perform many miracles throughout his life and he express on page 4 that it is his purpose to be a witness of those miracles. This is how miracles become a major motif in the story.
Reflection
Reuben describes miracles as, “Real miracles bother people, like strange sudden pains unknown in medical literature. It’s true they rebut every rule all we good citizens take comfort in. Lazarus obeying orders and climbing up out of the grave -- now there's a miracle, and you can bet it upset a lot of folks who were standing around at the time. When a person dies, the earth is generally unwilling to cough him back up. A miracle contradicts the will of earth” (p. 3). I also agree with Reuben, it seems to me that miracles do confront every rule we think of. I say this based on the fact that I am also a witness of a miracle. No only a miracle, but I should say the greatest of all miracles. More specifically I mean the miracle of salvation through Christ, which is often the one most ignored. I once heard someone say “God does not intend to make a bad man good, but to make dead man alive.” This is true salvation. As we see in the Scriptures, “Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (KJV, 2 Corinthians 5:17). This is what I have witnessed and experienced as I came to Christ in repentance of my sins. As the Scriptures says, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). In the beginning there was an inner peace and a healing from all guilt conscious before God. Later it became evident to all, as I became a new creature. Everything was different about my life, which is why I say this is the greatest miracle. My parents couldn’t believe the perverted, alcoholic, rebellious, young man they knew, now became a saint through Christ. Thus, it confronted every rule we take comfort in, as Reuben said. It also contradicted the statistics made by the wise man of our days, so called psychologists and doctors. During High School I would see a Psychiatrist who tried to teach me a different way to handle things, which was a failure. By the law I have been sentenced to a two week Rehab, that was a failure also. But by God, I was introduced to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who showed me His wounds for me and how great love He has for my life and only asked of me that I would come to Him and repent of my sins that only caused hurt to Him and to those around me. And so, it became true as the Word of God says, I became a new creature. Likewise, any miracle is intended to change us. As we also read in the book, “People fear miracles because they fear being changed—though ignoring them will change you also”(p.3). This is we see throughout the Scriptures as well, God never does a miracle without purpose. But His miracles always produce fruits, whether be in favor or against those who witness them. This (the Bible) is where, the author Leif Enger got his ideas on miracles.
Symbolism
All the miracles described in the book are a symbolism of those seen in the Bible. As the author describes in the beginning, the father tells the son “to breath” just as God breathe on Adam’s nostrils when he was still clay, which is the name of that chapter in the book. We also see on page 17, when Reuben sees his dad walking on air, he says:
“He went on pacing--God my witness--walking on air, praying relentlessly, a good yard of absolutely nothing between the soles of his boots and the thistles below. As he went, the moon threw his strangely separate shadow to the earth; a sleepy pigeon cooed from the barn; Dad's boot touched the tops of a thatch of tall grama growing up among the thistles, and they waved as if stroked by wind.” This one is a symbolism of the miracle we see in Scriptures that the Lord Jesus walked on water in Matthew 14:25, “And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.”
There are also other miracles described in the book that are even a more obvious symbolism to those in Scripture. As when Jeremiah heals his boss right after being fired, just as we see in Scripture many different healings. We also see Jeremiah being compared to Moses on page 167 when they were looking for Davy and the police could not see them, which was a symbolism of Moses opening up the Red Sea for the Israelites to escape from the Egyptians.
Lastly, but not the least, the greatest of all miracles we see at the end of the book when Jeremiah gives his life for his son, in symbolism of how Jesus gave His life for us. This we see on page 307, when Dr. Nokes tells Reuben, “Your father should not have died, Reuben. Did you know that?”, and he continues saying “ I examined him, you know. No organs were damaged.” This perhaps could be a symbolism to John 19:36, how none of Jesus’ bones was broken. And on Reuben’s vision, page 304, the Dad left Reuben instructions as to what he should do when he died, such as “Work for Roxanna”. This, perhaps, is pointing to the scene where the Lord Jesus is on the cross and tells his disciple, “Behold thy mother!” (John 19:26). And just as the Lord Jesus, told His disciples after that he would be back (John 14:3), Jeremiah tells Reuben that he would be with him soon on page 304. Perhaps the miracle of Jeremiah dying and Reuben living is a symbolism of salvation. As I first mentioned, the Lord Jesus died for my life, therefore I choose to live for Him. So does the Scriptures tells us about this marvelous salvation we have in Christ, “But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). In the words of the Methodist writer Charles H. Gabriel, “He took my sins and my sorrows, He made them His very own; He bore the burden to Calvary, And suffered and died alone” (I Stand Amazed In The Presence, 1905).
Conclusion
After considering that all the miracles were a symbolism of some that we see in the Bible, and how miracles kept on occurring throughout the story. It is fair to say that miracles are indeed one of the major motifs in Peace Like A River. What is left then is what should we learn from it? As I have reflected over it, I believe, we should look to the Lord Jesus Christ as the author of all miracles especially salvation. As we saw in the end of the story, this is also true to everyone who comes to Christ, that He gave His life for us so that we may live. How much more should we give for Him? I finish my reflection with these words from the apostle Paul, “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And [that] he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
Works Cited
The New Oxford American Dictionary, 2001, edited by Elizabeth J. Jewell & Frank Abate
I Stand Amazed In The Presence, 1905, Charles H. Gabriel. http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/s/isaithep.htm
