Gilead (Gilead #1)

by Marilynne Robinson

doctrine is not belief, it is only one way of talking about belief,

There are a thousand thousand reasons to live this life, every one of them sufficient.

It has seemed to me sometimes as though the Lord breathes on this poor gray ember of Creation and it turns to radiance—for a moment or a year or the span of a life. And then it sinks back into itself again, and to look at it no one would know it had anything to do with fire, or light. That is what I said in the Pentecost sermon. I have reflected on that sermon, and there is some truth in it. But the Lord is more constant and far more extravagant than it seems to imply. Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration. You don’t have to bring a thing to it except a little willingness to see. Only, who could have the courage to see it?

What have I to leave you but the ruins of old courage, and the lore of old gallantry and hope?