Life Lessons From Lucy Maud Montgomery

Megan Follows as Anne

At an early age, I became an avid reader. I loved to read and explore new worlds through the pages of a book.

One of my favorite childhood authors, Lucy Maud Montgomery, is still a writer I frequently enjoy today.

Most of you have probably seen the Anne adaptations for television, but the miniseries fails to do justice to the beauty of Montgomery’s novels. Many people do not know that L.M. Montgomery was a pastor’s wife and throughout her books, she mentions a great deal about faith.

Although she is mostly popular for the Anne series, she wrote many other novels and short stories that are just as excellent as her most popular books.

I was reading through one of my favorite Anne books, Anne of the Island, when I stumbled across some very profound words of wisdom that Montgomery had embedded into the story of Ruby Gillis’ death. These words challenged me so I had to stop reading and ponder the point that L.M. Montgomery was trying to get across.

From Anne of the Island, just after Anne’s last visit with her childhood friend, Ruby Gillis:

“Anne walked home very slowly in the moonlight. The evening had changed something for her. Life held a different meaning, a deeper purpose. On the surface it would go on just the same; but the deeps had been stirred. It must not be with her as with poor butterfly Ruby.

When she came to the end of one life it must not be to face the next with the shrinking terror of something wholly different — something for which accustomed thought and ideal and aspiration had unfitted her.

The little things of life, sweet and excellent in their place, must not be the things lived for; the highest must be sought and followed; the life of heaven must be begun here on earth.”

How many of us can truthfully say that we are living the life of heaven here on earth? Or is Heaven a distant thought on your horizon?

Many of us have already prepared for our life in Heaven by accepting Jesus into our hearts, but are you living your life so you are seeking and following the highest things in life?

L.M. Montgomery’s words found their basis in the Bible: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

With these truths in mind, I continued reading through Anne of the Island a few days later. I had only turned four pages from the above quotes, when the words leaped off the page. Anne was recollecting about she had spent her summer home from college, and the lessons she had learned while home at Green Gables.

But the summer had been a very happy one, too — a time of glad living with summer suns and skies, a time of keen delight in wholesome things; a time of renewing and deepening of old friendships; a time in which she had learned to live more nobly, to work more patiently, to play more heartily.

Those simple words sum up one of my new mottos—live more nobly, work more patiently, and play more heartily.

I want to live my life nobly for my Savior as I go through the tasks of daily life, even if what I’m doing does not seem spiritual in the least. But all things, if done with the right heart attitude can give glory to my Lord and Savior.

Working patiently has always been a tough one for me as I have the spiritual gift of organization, and often I just want to get the job done. Now, I’m learning to enjoy the journey as much as the destination and seek God’s will as I complete the work that He has called me to do.

At this point in my life, I can truthfully say that I can learn a few more things about playing heartily. It is so easy to get caught up in all the tasks of life and not take time to spend quality moments with loved ones.

The work will always be there, but you may not have a chance to enjoy your siblings while you are at home or to get together for a cup of coffee with a friend. Don’t allow the cares of this world to cause you to forget why you are here on earth.

After all, you will always have work, but the chances to spend time, encourage, and be encouraged by family and friends will not always be available.

Besides, the work you do will not matter for eternity, rather the lives which you could touch for Christ.