January 10

Because Thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee. — Ps 63:3

Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. — Luke 17:33

O Lord! my best desires fulfil,
And help me to resign
Life, health, and comfort, to Thy will,
And make Thy pleasure mine.
—WM. COWPER.

What do our heavy hearts prove but that other things are sweeter to us than His will, that we have not attained to the full mastery of our true freedom, the full perception of its power, that our sonship is yet but faintly realized, and its blessedness not yet proved and known? Our consent would turn all our trials into obedience. By consenting we make them our own, and offer them with ourselves again to Him.
—H. E. MANNING.

Nothing is intolerable that is necessary. Now God hath bound thy trouble upon thee, with a design to try thee, and with purposes to reward and crown thee. These cords thou canst not break; and therefore lie thou down gently, and suffer the hand of God to do what He please.
—JEREMY TAYLOR.