“If we can serenely bear the trial of being displeasing to ourselves, then we will become for Jesus a pleasant place of shelter.”
Therese de Lisieux
“It’s only love that makes us what God wants us to be, and for that reason it’s the only possission I covet. But how to come by it? Our Lord has seen fit to show me the only way which leads to it, and that is the unconcern with which a child gtoes to sleep in its father’s arms.”
Therese de Lisieux, from her Letter To Sister Maria
“Our Lord doesn’t ask for great acheivements, only for self-surrender and for gratituude.”
“…Does God really ask no more of me than these unimportant little sacrifices I offer him, these desires to do something better? Is he really content with me as I am?”
“You’re almost at a place I can use you, because you almost believe that I love you.”
Peter Fitch, a word from God to him.
“Overachieving is an addiction for some of us. I suggest, with Therese de Lisieux and other spiritual friends, that the love of God could replace the underlying motives that push us to overachievement. I’ve been afraid to give myself to silence and reflection, because when I do, I slow down both mentally and physical. I fear that if I give myself to this quietness, I will underachieve, lazy in the love of God. I receive accolades from overachievement, work and opportunity. To disquiet my pattern is to quiet my forward motion.
Now percieving that I am addicted to my overachieving, growing in impure soils as it is, I seek a remedy that will not take away from impetus. Is it possible that the seed of love could displace the seed from which my present overachievement springs? Might I become more centered, more creative, more discerning in my ways? Knowing that I need not impress God, that I may no longer want to impress people, could I become not only a more liberated child of God, but also a great gift to my human family? It is my hope that such dreams could pass into my reality, and that is enough to move my heart to decision. I will allow the love of God to be my addiction, and let the fruit grow as it may.”