I could never estimate how many times Anne of Green Gables may come up in this blog because I truly do think it's a great story. She is a great role model, in that she isn't perfect but she's also strong and smart. When it comes to love she doesn't lose her head and she keeps her ideals and morals strong.
" She held over him the unconscious influence that every girl, whose ideals are high and pure, wields over her friends; an influence which would endure as long as she was faithful to those ideals and which she would certainly lose if she were ever false to them"
- Anne of Avonlea
Anne's love with Gilbert is a great love story, but it isn't great because they sit around and moon for each other. It isn't great because of some love triangle, or great rivalries of the heart. She doesn't run after him or throw away her life for him. Even through a year of engagement where they are separated and must have what we would call a "long distance relationship" today, she has this brilliant life that shines from herself. She isn't pining for him or waiting for him.
They grow together and they work together. There is respect for one another and they each have their role in the family. Their love for one another is deep, it takes only a read through once to see they are meant for each other and that there love is a strong bond. At the same time, it is a passionate love though I hesitate to use that word. It's not a fleeting passion but a lasting one. One that grows a love thats rooted in a firm and lasting foundation.
What makes Anne so attractive to Gilbert though? As children, she had a childish quarrel with him and was stubborn to not forgive him for years but he consistently trusted that one day they could work together. Anne had her faults and childish whims but her heart was pure and ideals high. She didn't throw herself at boys or chase them like other girls. She dreamed of a pure love.
Her influence over Gilbert and her friends was strong because of her high standards. By keeping faith to these ideals and standards she gained her respect and influence from all around her. She was looked up to and revered. Others sought her as an example just as any girl who reads about her will too seek to be like her.
The best way to be a good influence to those around you, to help them grow in their faith and standards is to be an example and never let those standards down. The best way to attract a godly man is to do it unconsciously, to gain his affection and love through purity and the example you set for those around you.
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