"People who see a better home ahead...

are able to welcome what is not currently enjoyed."

I found this quote in some notes from a talk I once gave, but I have no idea who to attribute it to.  Of course it is a reference to heaven, but this week it strikes "close to home" since we are in the midst of an unenjoyable process of getting the house tiled.

Maybe it was by Dan Allender.  I have a whole string of quotes by him that I really like.

 "Bold love is courageously setting aside our personal agenda to move humbly into the world of others with their well-being in view, willing to risk further pain in our souls, in order to be an aroma of life to some and an aroma of death to others."

"Our spiritual journey must lead through the desert or else our healing will be the product of our own will and wisdom. It is in the silence of the desert that we hear our dependence on noise. It is in the poverty of the desert that we see clearly our attachments to the trinkets and baubles we cling to for security and pleasure. The desert shatters the soul’s arrogance and leaves body and soul crying out in thirst and hunger. In the desert we trust God or die.”

"Conflict itself opens the door that allows you to praise and prize the gospel more." 

"A man is called to war against darkness, first and foremost in his heart, or he’ll become self-righteous. "

"If we do not anticipate His return, then we will either be lulled into thinking that what we currently enjoy in this life is enough or lapse into fury for this life not being enough."

"If I am surprised by sin in my life or in others, I am operating according to a tragic assumption about life.  If I do not anticipate the regularity and tragedy of sin, I unavoidably come to believe this world is my home."

"Do I live for heaven?  Or do I live demanding that life be like heaven?"

"[Biblical counseling] Must insist that the image of God is central to developing a solid view of personality; that our sinfulness, not how we've been sinned against, is our biggest problem; that forgiveness, not wholeness, is our greatest need; that repentance, not insight, is the dynamic in all real change."

Most people want to grow, but the price of growth is pain.

 Can you tell I am easily side-tracked while trying to get my shelves cleared off?  I keep finding such treasures!  I'm working on another piece with the working title "From ADD to OCD and back again...."  Not sure which blog I will post it to.