Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Sometimes we are so busy being the hammer or the anvil, that we forget who really needs the shaping.
In contrast to the path of selfishness, there is no room for road rage on the straight and narrow way.
Trying to observe the slow shift from self-centeredness to empathy is like trying to watch grass grow.
Any assessment of where we stand in relationship to Him tells us that we do not stand at all. We kneel.
How can we truly understand who we are unless we know who we were and what we have the power to become?
We should not assume; however, that just because something is unexplainable by us, it is unexplainable.
We are so busy constantly checking our own temperatures, we fail to notice the burning fevers of others.
When our minds really catch hold of the significance of Jesus' atonement, the world's hold on us loosens.
Conscience warns us not to sink our cleats too deeply in mortal turf, which is so dangerously artificial.
Satan delights to have us put ourselves down. Self-contempt is of Satan. There is no such thing in heaven.
Every dimension of the gospel is relevant to one or more of our social and political problems of our time.
The authority of example and considerations of character, unlike pudding, are not whipped up in an instant.
God’s grace will cover us like a cloak-enough to provide for survival but too thin to keep out all the cold.
God's extraordinary work is most often done by ordinary people in the seeming obscurity of a home and family.
We may never become accustomed to untrue and unjust criticism of us but we ought not to be immobilized by it.
It is better to trust and sometimes be disappointed than to be forever mistrusting and be right occasionally.
The more seriously we work on our own imperfections, the less we are judgemental of the imperfections of others.
The dues of discipleship are high indeed, and how much we can take so often determines how much we can then give.
The winds of tribulation, which blow out some men's candles of commitment, only fan the fires of faith of others.
At the center of our agency is our freedom to form a healthy attitude toward whatever circumstances we are placed in!
The harrowing of the soul can be like the harrowing of the soil; to increase the yield, things are turned upside down.
We can hold to the iron rod even if others slip away and a few end up mocking us from "the great and spacious building."
The more quickly we loosen our grip on the things of the world the more firmly we can take hold of the things of eternity.
Personal, spiritual symmetry emerges only from the shaping of prolonged obedience. Twigs are bent, not snapped into shape.
Truly we work and live on a streetful of splendid people, whom we are to love and serve even if they are uninterested in us!
In the economy of Heaven, God does not send thunder if a still, small voice is enough, or a prophet if a priest can do the job.
We cannot repent for someone else. But we can forgive someone else, refusing to hold hostage those whom the Lord seeks to set free!
It is so easy to be confrontive without being informative; indignant without being intelligent; impulsive without being insightful.
Why is it that for many persons changing others is so exciting and so relevant, while changing oneself is so boring and irrelevant?
Patience helps us to view imperfections in others more generously to the end that we may learn to be more wise than they have been.
God does not begin by asking our ability, only our availability, and if we prove our dependability, He will increase our capability.
It is extremely important for you to believe in yourselves, not only for what you are now, but for what you have the power to become.
A friend of mine who passed through a most severe trial, when I discussed it with him, he said simply, if it’s fair, it isn’t a trial.
You rock a sobbing child without wondering if today's world is passing you by, because you know you hold tomorrow tightly in your arms.
The acceptance of the reality that we are in the Lord's loving hands is only a recognition that we have never really been anywhere else.
I know sanctification comes not with any particular calling, but with genuine acts of service, often for which there is no specific calling.
When at length we tire of putting people down, this self-inflicted fatigue can give way to the invigorating calisthenics of lifting people up.
The Lord doesn't ask about your ability, only your availability; and, if you prove your dependability, the Lord will increase your capability.
If another person only had in his storehouse of deserved self-esteem what you had put there, what would he have to draw upon and to sustain him?
We must not fail, individually, for if we fail, we fail twice - for ourselves and for those who could have been helped, if we had done our duty.
Though we have rightly applauded our ancestors for their spiritual achievements ... those of us who prevail today will have done no small thing.
When we rejoice in beautiful scenery, great art, and great music, it is but the flexing of instincts acquired in another place and another time.
If we are serious about our discipleship, Jesus will eventually request each of us to do those very things which are most difficult for us to do.
Sometimes, if you're like me, [God] will brace or reprove in a highly personal process not understood or appreciated by those outside the context.
There will be many fine and wonderful men and women of all races and creeds-and of no religious creeds at all-who will lead decent and useful lives.
Trials and tribulations tend to squeeze the artificiality out of us, leaving the essence of what we really are and clarifying what we really yearn for.
If we spent as much time lifting our children as we do criticizing them, how effectively we could help them to see themselves in a more positive light!
True discipleship is for volunteers only. Only volunteers will trust the Guide sufficiently to follow Him in the dangerous ascent which only He can lead.
Selfishness is much more than an ordinary problem because it activates all the cardinal sins! It is the detonator in the breaking of the Ten Commandments.
The great challenge is to refuse to let the bad things that happen to us do bad things to us. That is the crucial difference between adversity and tragedy.