Jumping Off

“It is better, seeing your poverty, to always reproach yourself and fall down before the Lord with humility, rather than look at your improvement. Maintain the middle, humble path, and do not ascend prematurely to a higher path, beyond your strength. Seeing your own (spiritual) poverty, do not reproach anyone, do not condemn, consider yourself to be the least, and when you receive reproach and scorn from someone, consider yourself to be worthy of it.”
St. Macarius of Optina

Someone asked me why I put quotes and the like at the top of my blog posts. In fact sometimes they are the blog post. I do it because I'm trying not to rely on myself so much. God has said that there is wisdom in many wise counselors. The quotes I list are often jumping off points for me, a reliable place of wisdom that I can come back to if, once I make that leap of faith, I realize that I'm off course. Kind of a road sign saying, "Hey! You're off course! The path is over here!"

As Lent approaches, and I'm trying to get into a place where I can hear God, I'm realizing He is showing me what I should be concentrating on over the next couple of months. He gently shows me by what I read, what catches my attention and lingers in my heart, where He wants my focus to be. Many times the quotes I post are from reading I am doing that is herding me into the direction the Shepherd wants me to go. I am His sheep after all and He knows where the green pastures and still waters are. These quotes are His staff and rod for me and when I follow them, the path is safe and peaceful.

The quotes also give me something to say when I should just zip it. ~grin~

“I have often repented of having spoken, but never of having been silent.”
Abba Arsenius

Amen, Abba, amen!

Relevant Verses
Proverbs 11:14
Proverbs 15:2, 5, 7, 12, 14, 22, 28, 33
Psalm 23
Psalm 119:24