Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth
Col. 3:2
If we set our treasures on earthly things, there we will find ourselves living. When we see our treasures as heavenly things, there is where we reside, even though our body is on earth. To be as Christ we must realize we are not of this world but of His world.
May the good Lord bless and keep you safe.
Remember to "Always Love The Details."
Looking up to heaven he sighed
Mark 7:34
Too often we sigh and look within; Jesus sighed and looked without. We sigh, and look down; Jesus sighed, and looked up. We sigh, and look to earth; Jesus sighed, and looked to Heaven. We sigh, and look to man; Jesus sighed, and looked to God.
Stork
Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).
Look up in prayer in the hope of seeing the face of God. Praise Him and give thanks for the day and this life.
Anywhere and everywhere we may dwell “with the King, for his work.” We may be in a very unlikely or unfavorable place for this; it may be in a little country life, with little enough to be seen of the “goings” of the King around us; it may be among hedges of all sorts, hindrances in all directions; it may be, furthermore, with our hands full of all manner of pottery for our daily task. No matter! The King who placed us “there” will come and dwell there with us; the hedges are all right, or He would soon do away with them; and it does not follow that what seems to hinder our way may not be for its very protection; and as for the pottery, why, this is just exactly what He has seen fit to put into our hands, and therefore it is, for the present, “His work.”
Frances Ridley Havergal
Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).
We admire the great actions and the glorious triumph of the Saints; yet it is not so much in these that their sanctity consisted, as in the constant habitual heroic disposition of their souls. There is no one who does not sometimes do good actions; but he can never be called virtuous who does well only by humor, or by fits and starts, not by steady habits.
John Gilmary Shea
Pictorial Lives of the Saints (New York; Cincinnati; Chicago: Benziger Brothers, 1887)
It is not where you are that matters when following the Lord. What matters is that you are doing the task set before you. He is always there , no matter where the task may be. His presence is always at hand regardless of the physical difficulty.
May the good Lord bless and keep you safe.
Remember to "Always Love The Details."
Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord
1 Cor. 15:58
Activity in doing good is one recipe for being cheerful Christians; it is like exercise to the body, and it keeps the soul in health.
Bishop Ryle
Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).
The body is of this imperfect world and must perish. Our soul is not of this earth and will not perish. Our body will be replaced with one that is eternal. The belief in Christ is food for our soul and sustains us to be with Him forever in heaven. What is there to not be cheerful about?
Besides, you know the time has come; the moment is here for you to stop sleeping and wake up, because by now our salvation is nearer than when we first began to believe.
Ro 13:11
The New Jerusalem Bible (New York: Doubleday, 1985)
I have heard of a painter who loved to work by the morning light. He said that the colors were better understood by the light of the early day, and so he was wont to be in his studio waiting for the rising of the sun. Then every moment it grew lighter, and he found he could accomplish things which he could not reach if he waited till the day had advanced.
Is there not work waiting for us—work that no one else can do—work, too, that the Master has promised to help us perform? Shall He come and find that we still sleep? Or shall the Sun of Righteousness, when He appears, find us waiting, as that painter waited, looking and longing for the first gleam of day? Surely those of us who thus wait on the Lord shall renew our strength, and eagle-like, rise to greet the Sun.
Thomas Champness
Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).
LAURENCE from a child longed to be a Saint; and when he was nineteen years of age there was granted to him a vision of the Eternal Wisdom. All earthly things paled in his eyes before the ineffable beauty of this sight, and as it faded away a void was left in his heart which none but God could fill. Refusing the offer of a brilliant marriage, he fled secretly from his home at Venice, and joined the Canons Regular of St. George. One by one he crushed every natural instinct which could bar his union with his Love. When Laurence first entered religion, a nobleman went to dissuade him from the folly of thus sacrificing every earthly prospect. The young monk listened patiently in turn to his friend’s affectionate appeal, scorn, and violent abuse Calmly and kindly he then replied. He pointed out the shortness of life, the uncertainty of earthly happiness, and the incomparable superiority of the prize he sought to any his friend had named. The nobleman could make no answer; he felt in truth that Laurence was wise, himself the fool. He left the world, became a fellow-novice, with the Saint, and his holy death bore every mark that he too had secured the treasures which never fail. As superior and as general, Laurence enlarged and strengthened his Order, and as bishop of his diocese, in spite of slander and insult, thoroughly reformed his see. His zeal led to his being appointed the first patriarch of Venice, but he remained ever in heart and soul an humble priest thirsting for the sight of heaven. At length the eternal vision began to dawn. “Are you laying a bed of feathers for me?” he said. “Not so; my Lord was stretched on a hard and painful tree.” Laid upon the straw, he exclaimed in rapture, “Good Jesus, behold I come.” He died A.D. 1435, aged seventy-four.
John Gilmary Shea
Pictorial Lives of the Saints (New York; Cincinnati; Chicago: Benziger Brothers, 1887)
We are to go forward in life with eyes ever on the prize of heavenly eternal life. The time is short for us to realize our heavenly birth is near. It approaches quickly, silently. Are you still asleep? Are you ready?
May the good Lord bless and keep you safe.
Remember to "Always Love The Details."
Thou art my God: early will I seek thee
Ps. 63:1
In a world where there is so much to ruffle the spirit’s plumes, how needful that entering into the secret of God’s pavilion, which will alone bring it back to composure and peace! In a world where there is so much to sadden and depress, how blessed the communion with Him in whom is the one true source and fountain of all true gladness and abiding joy! In a world where so much is ever seeking to unhallow our spirits, to render them common and profane, how high the privilege of consecrating them anew in prayer to holiness and to God.
Archbishop Trench
Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).
True holiness is resting in prayer to God in all things, in all situations.
