But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies.
-- 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 (ESV)
John Chrysostom, Homilies on 2 Corinthians:
He does not say 'we are afflicted but not punished,' but 'afflicted in every way, yet not crushed.' See how the power of God is shown -- not in removing the affliction, but in sustaining the man under it. The vessel is fragile; the treasure within is indestructible. Paul boasts not of ease but of endurance, for it is in the breaking of the clay that the glory of the contents is revealed.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity:
The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says, 'Give me All. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down.'
Augustine, Confessions:
You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. The vessel groans under the weight it was never meant to carry alone. It is not the breaking that destroys a man -- it is the refusal to acknowledge he was always clay. Let the potsherd contend with its Maker, and discover that the Maker's hands are both the wheel and the fire.
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ:
He who endeavors to go forward in the spiritual life must above all things be watchful against the motions of his own self-will. Nothing more defiles and enslaves the soul than the indulgence of natural affection contrary to the order of grace. Begin now what you will wish you had begun when you come to die.
Where are you mistaking your own endurance for your own strength?
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, V.1:
At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: 'I have to go to work -- as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I'm going to do what I was born for -- the things I was brought into the world to do?' Or is this what you were created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm? You were born to act, not to recline.
St. Clair, MI: -- Rain likely. High 75°F / Low 64°F. 77% chance of precipitation. Winds light from the northeast.