"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)"Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes. It is really just as difficult to decide whether the obedience of faith is the cause or the consequence of faith. Every act of faith is an act of obedience to the call of Jesus, and every act of obedience is an act of faith. In the one case it is the hearing of the call which creates faith, in the other it is faith which creates obedience."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, *The Cost of Discipleship*"Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee."
Augustine, *Confessions*, Book I"For the Word was not impaired by receiving a body, that He should seek to receive grace from another. But rather He Himself sanctified the body also; or rather in the body He manifested His own grace and power. For as the sun is not impaired by the things it enlightens, but rather itself illumines and brightens them also; so neither is the Word impaired by the condescension to the body, but rather deifies and quickens it."
Athanasius, *On the Incarnation*, §42"Wait for the Lord's promise. He who promised is faithful. He does not delay because He wishes to put off our joy, but because He loves us so much that He desires to increase our desire. For He does not give in order that we may rest from waiting, but that we may wait with all the more fervor. The longer we wait, the more precious the gift becomes; the more precious it is, the more we love it; and the more we love it, the more eagerly we seek it."
Thomas à Kempis, *The Imitation of Christ*If everything visible in your life today were stripped away, what would remain -- and would that be enough?
"When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly... but I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own -- not of the same blood and birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can fix my face with ugliness. Nor can I be angry at my relative, nor hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions."
Marcus Aurelius, *Meditations*, 2.1Clear • 47°F • Humidity: 61% • Wind: 10 mph ←