Gilead

I'm reading the novel Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, for my book club this month. It's set in 1956 in Gilead, Iowa, and written from the perspective of an old pastor who knows he doesn't have long to live. He writes it to the child he never expected to have, his 7 year old son. I won't give too much more away, but I did want to share this quote, which I'm sure all parents can relate to:

I'd never have believed I'd see a wife of mine doting on a child of mine. It still amazes me every time I think of it. I'm writing this in part to tell you that if you ever wonder what you've done in 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 of an old man in a shabby little town you will no doubt leave behind. If only I had the words to tell you.