Hence one should follow the advice of the hermit to whom a youth complained that he rather often experienced imaginations concerned with lusts and other sins and to whom the old man replied: "You cannot prevent the birds from flying over your head. But let them only fly and do not let them build nests in the hair of your head. Let them be thoughts and remain such; but do not let them become conclusions."32

God orders us to believe and trust in his goodness, but at the same time, we should never test him. We must take advantage of opportunities that God gives us. If we don't, we aren't living according to his plan. But we must continue to maintain our faith and hope in God.

Whenever the devil harasses you, seek the company of men or drink more, or joke and talk nonsense, or do some other merry thing. Sometimes we must drink more, sport, recreate ourselves, and even sin a little to spite the devil, so that we leave him no place for troubling our consciences with trifles. We are conquered if we try too conscientiously not to sin at all. So when the devil says to you: do not drink, answer him: I will drink, and right freely, just because you tell me not to.

I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the "oughtness" that forever confronts him.

If pleasure was not followed by pain, who would forbear it?

He clutched his hands into a ball, praying, Why, God, why? I've been a faithful servant and served my church well. So why do You feel the need to test me? Actually, punish would be a more apt description.

Behind every temptation is a divine reward in resisting it; behind every divine opportunity is a reward in taking advantage of it.

He who is able to lift heavy weights is strong; he who is able to carry heavy burdens is great.

Being a Trump staffer had become an existential predicament: even if you wanted to get out, and almost all of them did, there was nowhere to go.

balance invitation and challenge appropriately

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.

He who hits and runs away, lives to fight another day.