Wise Words from Marilynne Robinson

January 30, 2009

We find parenting inspiration all around us. In the example of our partners and friends, of our own parents, and of strangers at the park. We find it in advice books, memoirs, newspaper articles and novels too.

This passage from Marilynne Robinson's novel Gilead is a touchstone that helps us reflect on the depth of joy we receive from our children, and resolve to express that love and joy to them as eloquently and often as we can.

The older narrator writes in a letter to his young son:

"I'm writing this in part to tell you that if you ever wonder what you've done with your life, and everyone does wonder sooner or later, you have been God's grace to me, a miracle, something more than a miracle. You may not remember me very well at all, and it may seem to you to be no great thing to have been the good child or an old man in a shabby little town you will no doubt leave behind. If only I had the words to tell you." -- Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

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