"Man, learn what God wants you to be."

-Aulus Persius Flaccus, Satires, III, line 71

"I meet so many people who constantly complain about the burden of their responsibilities.  Of course the pressures are great.  There is much, too much, to do . . .Turn your thinking around.  The gospel is good news.  Man is that he might have joy. Be happy!  Let that happiness shine through your faces and speak through your testimonies. . . 

"I enjoy these words of Jenkins Lloyd Jones . . .

"'Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed.

"'Most putts don't drop.  Most beef is tough.  Most children grow up to be just people.  Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration.  Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise.

"'Life is like an old-time rail journey - delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.

"'The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.' (Deseret News, June 12, 1973)"

-Gordon B. Hinkley, Four Imperitives for Religious Educators  15 September 1978

"No task will be so sordid and base . . .that it will not shine and be reckoned very precious in God's sight."

-John Calvin

"I know what I want is above my strength - but He who has given me the desire will also give me strength to do the impossible."

-Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light

“There [will] come a time when God will fill what He [has] emptied.”

         

   -Brother Benito, Garlic for Pegasus:  The Life of Brother Benito do Goes of the Society of Jesus, Schoenberg

"Imagine yourself as a living house.  God comes in to rebuild that house.  At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing.  He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised.  But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense.  What on earth is He up to?  The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards.  You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace.  He intends to come and live in it Himself."

-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."

-Mother Theresa
In the Heart of the World:  Thoughts, Stories, and Prayers