Maturity starts with the willingness to give oneself.
Interpretation
Maturity involves selflessness and the ability to give of oneself for others.
Elisabeth Elliot's quote suggests that true maturity is characterized by our willingness to share and give to others, rather than being selfish or self-centered. This selflessness indicates emotional growth, understanding, and a readiness to engage meaningfully in our relationships and responsibilities.
In practice
In a graduation speech emphasizing the importance of community service.
We are not asked to SEE," said Amy. "Why need we when we KNOW?" We know--not the answer to the inevitable Why, but the incontestable fact that it is for the best. "It is an irreparable loss, but is it faith at all if it is 'hard to trust' when things are entirely bewildering?
Prayer lays hold of God's plan and becomes the link between His will and its accomplishment on earth. Amazing things happen, and we are given the privilege of being the channels of the Holy Spirit's prayer.
What sort of world might it have been if Eve had refused the servants offer and had said to him instead, βlet me not be like God. Let me be what I was made to be - let me be a woman'?
Worship is not an experience. Worship is an act, and this takes discipline. We are to worship ''in spirit and in truth.'' Never mind about the feelings. We are to worship in spite of them.
Restlessness and impatience change nothing except our peace and joy. Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands.
If your goal is purity of heart, be prepared to be thought very odd.
They say geniuses mostly have great mothers. They mostly have sad fates.
There is nothing foolish about hope.
That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.
He will therefore have to use what knowledge he can achieve, not to shape the results as the craftsman shapes his handiwork, but rather to cultivate a growth by providing the appropriate environment, in the manner in which the gardener does this for his plants.
It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things.
We tend to think being hard on ourselves will make us strong. But it is cherishing ourselves that gives us strength
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.