Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
Psalm 1:1-3 (ESV)G.K. Chesterton: -- *Orthodoxy*
Joy, which was the small publicity of the pagan, is the gigantic secret of the Christian. The modern world is not silent because it is dull; it is silent because it is afraid. The old world is not noisy because it was happy; it was noisy because it was free. The moderns talk much of the pursuit of happiness, but they do not know what happiness is. They think they know but they don't.
Oswald Chambers: -- *My Utmost for His Highest*
The delight of the saint is in the law of the Lord, and the law of the Lord is the delight of the saint. It is not a question of obedience to a law, but of the delight that comes from a right relationship to God. When the law of God is written in our hearts, our delight is to do His will. The only joy that is not shallow is the joy that comes from the deep well of obedience.
Tertullian: -- *Apology*, Chapter 39
We are a body united by a common religious profession, by a common discipline, and by a common hope. We meet together in assembly to approach God in prayer, as though with united forces, and to besiege Him with our petitions. This violence is pleasing to God. We pray also for the emperors, for their ministers and those in authority, for the welfare of the world, for peace in all things, and for the delay of the end. Day and night we make it our business, both in our own persons and in each other, to observe the rule of life.
François Fénelon: -- *Spiritual Letters*
The true way to find peace is to surrender our will entirely to God and to accept all things as coming from Him. The soul that has learned to let go of its own will finds that it has no more cares, no more anxieties. It lives in the present moment, trusting God for the next. This is not laziness or passivity -- it is the most active thing in the world, for it requires dying to self every hour of every day.
What would change today if you actually believed that your joy is found in God's instruction, not in the success of your plans?
Epictetus: -- *Enchiridion*, Chapter 1
Some things are up to us, and some things are not up to us. Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions -- in short, whatever is our own doing. Our bodies are not up to us, nor our possessions, our reputations, our public offices, or anything that is not our own doing. The things that are up to us are by nature free, unhindered, and unobstructed. The things that are not up to us are weak, enslaved, hindered, and not our own. Remember, then, that if you think things that are by nature enslaved to be free, and things that are not your own to be your own, you will be hindered, you will lament, you will be disturbed, you will blame both gods and men. But if you think that only what is yours is yours, and what is not your own is not your own, then no one will ever compel you, no one will hinder you, you will blame no one, you will accuse no one, you will do nothing against your will.
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