Always a Project and a Purpose

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.

~ Ephesians 4:1

KNOWING Thou needest this form, as I Thy divine inspiration, 
Knowing Thou shapest the clay with a vision and purpose divine, 
So would I answer each touch of Thy hand in its loving creation, 
That in my conscious life Thy beauty and power may shine.

~ Christopher P. Cranch

LET us examine our capacities and gifts, and then put them to the best use we may. As our own view of life is of necessity partial, I do not find that we can do better than to put them absolutely in God's hand, and look to Him for the direction of our life-energy. God can do great things with our lives, if we but give them to Him in sincerity. He can make them useful, uplifting, heroic. God never wastes anything. God never forgets anything. God never loses anything. As long as we live we have a work to do. We shall never be too old for it, nor too feeble. Illness, weakness, fatigue, sorrow,--none of these things can excuse us from this work of ours. That we are alive today is proof positive that God has something for us to do today.

~ Anna R. B. Lindsay

Happy Valentine's Day

And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

~ 1 Peter 4:8

He commends charity towards one another, because it buries a multitude of sins, and therefore preserves and maintains peace and harmony: for they who love one another easily forgive one another their offenses. 

Geneva Bible Note

Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal. 

~ C. S. Lewis

A True Princess

Courage...

OUR Lord teaches us not to shrink from the consequences which we may see to be involved in any course of duty which we have undertaken. He leads us to accept the results of any high choice as they open to our mind,--to regard trustfully, in every act of self-dedication, in every resolve we are led to make, whatever possibilities there may be of coming trial, foreseen or unforeseen,--to realize in calmness the future, whatever that future may be. If the calling of God is clear, if the sense of duty become the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, ever leading onward, the vision of the cross ought not to hinder our going forward. For one who has put his hand to the plough to look back is to become unfit for the Kingdom of Heaven. And equally so it must be to disobey God, if distrust of His upholding us in the course along which He would guide our steps, whatever trial may meet us in the path, becomes a stumbling-block or hindrance to our faith.

T. T. CARTER

Thoughts for a Monday Morning

 

 “A person who has not done one half his day's work by ten o'clock, runs a chance of leaving the other half undone.”

- Mrs. Dean  (Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte)

 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom

Psalm 90:12

"I come to do Thy will, O God."

That is what we are here for,--to do God's will. That is the object of your life and mine,--to do God's will. Any of us can tell in a moment whether our lives are right or not. Are we doing God's will? We do not mean, Are we doing God's work?--preaching, or teaching, or collecting money,--but God's will. A man may think he is doing God's work when he is not even doing God's will. And a man may be doing God's work and God's will quite as much by hewing stones, or sweeping streets, as by preaching or praying. So the question means just this, Are we working out our common every-day life on the great lines of God's will?

~ HENRY DRUMMOND

Signs of the Soul Living in God

IT is a sign that the soul is living in God, if it maintain calmness within through the consciousness of His Presence, while working for Him in active ministrations. Such restfulness will show itself in the commonest ways, in doing common duties at the right time, in preserving a sweetness and evenness of temper in the midst of ordinary interruptions and disturbances, in walking to and fro quietly on the day's varied errands, in speaking gentle words, in sweetly meeting unexpected calls. A calm, restful temper grows as self is learning to lose itself in God. Such grace tells gradually on the daily life; even the minutest detail may be brought under the power of God, and carried out in union with Him.

~ T. T. CARTER