This week’s life lessons from Anne were so much fun to revisit/write about that I have to share what I’ve learned from her daughter!
At the beginning of Rilla of Ingleside, I had trouble believing that Rilla is actually related to Anne Shirley. Her teenage melodrama and selfish… well… everything is off-putting in a way that severely contrasts the optimistic and always imaginative teenage Anne. As Rilla’s story progresses, however, and WWI horrifies even Prince Edward Island, her character develops into one of massive patience, kindness, bravery and faithfulness. She becomes a pillar of strength for her family and friends without compromising her fiery passion, which grows to be much like her mother’s. I do believe that Rilla’s is one of the greatest character developments of all time and that it has much to do with Lucy Maud Montgomery’s own experience. You can read more of my thoughts on that here.
Without further ado, here is what Lucy, through Rilla, taught me about life:
“The body grows slowly and steadily but the soul grows by leaps and bounds. It may come to its full stature in an hour.”
Rilla is only 15 years old at the beginning of her book and believes that she has just entered the best years of her life. That aside, she has no ambitions except, it seems, to be absolutely petulant until she’s too old to win an award for Best Teenage Drama Queen (How melodramatic was that?). Though she ages and matures over the course of the book, Rilla’s true transformation is surely in her soul. Within a few heart-wrenching chapters, her brothers, some of her dearest friends and the boy that she loves are all taken from her, and a new life (literally and figuratively) is given to her in their places. War is a tragically unpleasant way to grow one’s soul, but Rilla does it with a truly shocking level of grace. I know that my soul isn’t fully grown yet because I still feel this quote in my bones.
“There was something in her movements that made you think she never walked but always danced.”
Isn’t that beautiful? I can hardly stand to walk down a grocery store aisle without dancing but to never walk…. What a profound level of confident joy that would require. I strive to dance every day.
“It does not do to laugh at the pangs of youth. They are very terrible because youth has not yet learned that ‘this, too, will pass away.’”
For all of the crap I give mini Rilla, this quote struck a chord with me. We all have memories of situations that once seemed so terrible and now seem so petty, but it’s easy to forget that the generations that follow us have yet to experience those once-painful events. “The pangs of youth” may very well pass away… and land directly on someone else. This is where Lucy’s lessons on empathy work wonders.
“Rilla’s heart skipped a beat – or, if that be a physiological impossibility, she thought it did.”
On the surface, this quote probably doesn’t look like a life lesson at all. To be honest, it’s not really a life lesson underneath either. But this line made me think long and critically about heartbeats. What do you think? Do hearts skip?
“She wanted to be alone – to think things out – to adjust herself, if it were possible, to the new world in which she seemed to have been transplanted with a suddenness and completeness that left her half bewildered to her own identity.”
This is a deeply interesting line for a variety of reasons, one being Rilla’s uncertainty. If your whole world changed today, what would it take for you to change with it? Would you change at all? Personally, I found this quote unarguably affirming. It is okay for us, as human beings, to continuously rediscover our identities, to notice subtle changes in our personalities and to consider what others think about us without compromising our own beliefs. Isn’t that a relief? We are free to grow and change whenever and however we like.
“‘I will keep faith, Walter,’ she said steadily. ‘I will work and teach and learn and laugh, yes, I will even laugh through all my years, because of you and because of what you gave when you followed the call.’”
Please excuse me while I ball my eyes out—gah! This is my favorite quote in all of Rilla, even though I still tear up when I think of it.
Keep faith, dear readers. Keep faith in that thing that just popped into your mind, big or small.
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