Quote of the Week
 
“Mrs. Allan’s face was not the face of the girl-bride whom the minister had brought to Avonlea five years before. It had lost some of its bloom and youthful curves, and there were fine, patient lines about eyes and mouth. A tiny grave in that very cemetery accounted for some of them; and some new ones had come during the recent illness, now happily over, of her little son. But Mrs. Allan’s dimples were as sweet and sudden as ever, her eyes as clear and bright and true; and what her face lacked of girlish beauty was now more than atoned for in added tenderness and strength.”
-L.M. Montgomery pg. 130 Anne of Avonlea I just read this the other night and it reminded me of another thing I read in a book by Bryan Chappel (I believe it is his book Holiness by Grace) . I don’t know the exact wording but the idea was this: Trials and suffering both harden us and soften us. They harden us to the pleasures and temptations of the world because we realize how life here must be (and anticipate Heaven where there are no more sorrows). They soften us to be compassionate and loving towards others. Mrs. Allan is not a real woman, but I know women who through adversity have the added beauty of tenderness and strength. I have had no real trial in life so far, but I know eventually I will. May it not just leave me old, ugly, and bitter. But like women I am privileged to watch up close, may it serve to make me more tender and strong. May it harden and soften me. -Posted by Laurie Reyes
Monday, May 7, 2007