January 14

“He would consider over what he knew, what he could do, and would determine to make all his studies, all his self-training, bear upon the peculiar situation in which God had put him; not fanatically reprobating, but still considering as of less importance, whatsoever did not bear upon that situation. In all things, in short, he would do the duty that lay nearest him, believing that God had put it nearest him.”

From The Life of C. Kingsley

It is a fine notion of life to liken it to the loom. God puts on the warp in those circumstances in which we find ourselves, and which we cannot change. The weft is wrought by the shuttle of every-day life. It is made of very homely threads sometimes, common duties, unpromising and unwelcome tasks. But whoever tries to do each day’s work in the spirit of patient loyalty to God, is weaving the texture whose other side is fairer than the one he sees.”