Making the Most of Every Opportunity

Since, by His mercy, He gives us yet a little time, let us beginin earnest. Let us repair the lost time. Let us return with full assurance to that Father of mercies, who is always ready to receive us affectionately. Let us generously renounce, for the love of Him, all that is not Himself. He deserves infinitely more. Let us think of Him perpetually. Let us put all our trust in Him.

Brother Lawrence ~ Practice of the Presence of God, Fourth Conversation ~ ca 1600’s

On Small Things of "No Matter"

Are we not rude and deserve blame if we leave Him alone to busy ourselves with trifles which do not please Him and perhaps even offend Him? These trifles may one day cost us dearly. Let us begin earnestly to be devoted to Him. Let us cast everything else out of our hearts. He wants to possess the heart alone. Beg this favor of Him. If we do all we can, we will soon see that change wrought in us which we so greatly desire.

Brother Lawrence ~ The Practice of the Presence of God, Fifteenth letter~ ca 1600's

Made for Thyself!

Made for Thyself, O God!

Made for Thy love, Thy service, Thy delight;

Made to show forth Thy wisdom, grace, and might;

Made for Thy praise, whom veiled archangels laud;

O strange and glorious thought, that we may be

A joy to Thee.

F.R. Havergal

Give to the Winds Thy Fears

GIVE to the winds thy fears;
Hope and be undismayed;
God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears,
God shall lift up thy head.

THROUGH waves, and clouds, and storms,
He gently clears thy way;
Wait thou His time; so shall this night
Soon end in joyful day.

LEAVE to His sovereign sway
To choose and to command;
So shalt thou, wondering, own His way,
How wise, how strong his hand!

FAR, far above thy thought
His counsel shall appear
When fully He the work hath wrought
That caused thy needless fear.

Paul Gerhardt 1665

Their End Is God

THIS world of ours is a happy world, so that God is our end, so that we can say to Him, "Thou art my God." Then everything takes new hues of joy and love. Our daily comforts have a soul in them, for they abound in thanksgiving; our daily infirmities or crosses have a special joy in them, because they are so tenderly fitted to us by the medicinal hand of our God; the commonest acts of life are full of deep interest, because their end is God; daily duties are daily joys, because they are something which God gives us to offer unto Him, to do our very best in acknowledgement of His love. It is His earth we walk on; His air, we breathe; His sun, the emblem of his all-penetrating love, which gladdens us. Eternity! Yes, that to is present to us, and is part of our joy on earth. God has given us faith to make our future home as certain to us, as this our spot of earth; and hope, to aspire strongly to it; and love, as a foretaste of the all-surrounding, ever-unfolding, Almighty love of our own God.

E.B. Pusey

All to the Glory of God

SO then, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you may do, do all for the honor and glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31 (AMP)

Let Us Give Ourselves to God

LET us give ourselves to God without any reserve, and let us fear nothing. He will love us, and we shall love Him. His love, increasing everyday, will take the place of everything else to us. He will fill our whole hearts; He will deprive us only of those things that make us unhappy. He will cause us to do in genera,l what we have been doing already, but which we have done in an unsatisfactory manner; whereas, hereafter, we shall do them well, because they will be done for His sake. Even the smallest actions of a simple common life will be turned to consolation and recompense.

Francois De La Mothe Fenelon (1651-1715)

On Viewing Our Tasks for the Day

DO not yield to the temptation of looking at everything at once, as if everything would happen at once, and all the events of the day be crowded into an hour. Do not thus forecast, but take each thing as it comes to you, and look upon it as the present expression of the will of God concerning you; then regard the next in the same way, and thus receive your day piece by piece from Him who will remember always when He gives you work to do, that you need strength to do it.

OFTEN, when you have almost fainted in spirit, the thought comes, "If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, what shalt thou do with the horsemen?" Put it from you, it is a faithless thought; if you need more strength, you will have it, be sure of that; or the call to greater exertion may never come to you. Your business is with the present; leave the future in His hands who will be sure to do the best, the very best for you.

Pricilla Maurice (1810-1854)

So Good to Remember!

HE is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are judgment; a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is He.

Deuteronomy 32:4

Teach Us, Lord

"TEACH us Good Lord, to serve Thee as Thou deservest; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labor and not to ask for any reward save that we do Thy will through Jesus Christ our Lord."

St. Ignatus of Loyola

A Prayer of Surrender

"LORD, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept Thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all utterly to Thee to be Thine forever. Fill me and seal me with Thy Holy Spirit. Use me as Thou wilt, send me where Though wilt, work out Thy whole will in my life at any cost, now and forever."

Prayer of Betty Scott Stam ~ missionary to China, martyred.

A Thought

"MAKE us masters of ourselves, that we may be the servants of others."

Sir Alexander Patterson