Musings on faith, L.M. Montgomery, and my own history

For a while now, I’ve been thinking about adding some sort of faith-based content to my work. Please don’t lose me straight off the bat: I, like many of you, used to be a kind of dabbling agnostic. I believed in *something*, but I rarely went to church and didn’t investigate my faith further at all.

Then in 2015 I became ill. It’s still weird for me to look back at, because it felt like it happened over night. You see I’ve always had slight OCD tendencies (not the cleaning one, but rubbish thoughts entering my head, having to double and tripe check things, getting up at night and smelling my gas fireplace repeatedly to make 100% sure that it wasn’t going to blow up, etc.) But in 2015 I had been living in Scotland for a little over a year, was finally settled in a nice flat with my boyfriend (now husband), and had just secured a job I liked. And my brain just sort of crashed. The uncertainty and, in some respect, ugliness of previous years was so completely overwhelmed by sudden ‘certainty’ and happiness, that I just couldn’t fathom it.

I sought out professional help, but I also started going to church every Sunday. And the combination of the two led to me joining my local RCIA and becoming a Catholic. Since then, my faith has helped me so many times and in so many ways that I cannot doubt our Lord Jesus at all. I’m just hugely, hugely grateful to Him, forever and always.

Any deeper insights into my own faith are probably irrelevant to you, but that is the background. Now I can’t say I seek out faith-based books specifically. I mean I’ve also read and enjoyed my fair share of totally non-religious novels (I’ve read all of Monica McCarty’s Highland Guard series twice, hah. It starts with The Chief if you’re curious. But yes, very much on the err.. exotic side of things rather than purely sweet and romantic.)

Nowadays I do tend to veer towards the classics that have some form of faith-based foundation. For instance, nearly everyone except the particular grumps attend church in L.M. Montgomery’s novels, and church is a real treat in all of the Little House on the Prairie books. I love the connection to church, tradition, and land in a lot of the classics. To me it feels like a real foundation of values that’s so often lost in this modern world.

Interestingly, I started this blog post by trying to find a thread into exactly what feels faith-based – to me – in my favourite books. L.M. Montgomery is, to my surprise, frequently criticised because Anne’s prayers in the Green Gables series are often rather frivolous and even silly (she wants to be pretty, etc.) On the other hand, fans highlight that there are a lot of references to God’s goodness throughout her work.

My interpretation is this: I think any of the ‘younger’ prayers her characters say in Montgomery’s books are people just like you and me – very human people trying to find their right path in communicating with God. The fact that God’s infinite goodness is constantly highlighted reinforces this idea that, yes, we might sometimes make prayers that probably don’t make all that much sense, but He’s there for us anyway. I really like that about her work. It’s somehow a comfort.

I’m currently onto Montgomery’s short story collections (having red all but the Pat of Silver Bush series, because I surprisingly didn’t like that one the first time I tried reading it.) Just last night I read a story called Jane Lavinia in her 1905 to 1906 collection. Now this isn’t one of her more religious-based stories, but what struck me was the selflessness and devotion of the characters. Much more faithful and self-giving than many of today’s heroes and heroines might be.

Another story – I can’t remember the title just now or whether it was in this volume or the previous one – had a similar moral: a little boy was freezing and trying to work hard to help his aunt and little cousin. The family of a well-to-do doctor invited him for Christmas, lavished food and gifts on him, and promised him work so he could help his family do better. There’s a real selflessness in a lot of these stories that has such a wonderful religious undertone to me without even needing to be overly obvious with it.

I really hope to explore more of this in future blog posts. Are you with me?