The overwhelming joy of conversion or a new calling is often followed by feelings of being overwhelmed with duties and doctrines. The first joyous feelings are real and give one much-needed initial momentum. But the genuine exhilaration is soon followed by the need to perspire and to pedal.

A basic cause of murmuring is that too many of us seem to expect that life will flow ever smoothly, featuring an unbroken chain of green lights with empty parking places just in front of our destinations!.

The dues of discipleship are high indeed, and how much we can take so often determines how much we can then give.

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?

Patience is...clearly not fatalistic, shoulder-shrugging resignation. It is the acceptance of a divine rhythm to life; it is obedience prolonged. Patience stoutly resists pulling up the daisies to see how the roots are doing.

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!

The hardest work you and I will ever do is to put off our selfishness. It is heavy lifting!