­­Being and Doing – 30 September – The Time is Short

OH, my dear friends, you who are letting miserable misunderstandings run on from year to year, meaning to clear them up some day;  you who are keeping wretched quarrels alive because you cannot quite make up your mind that now is the day to sacrifice your pride and kill them;  you who are passing men sullenly upon the street, not speaking to them out of some silly spite, and yet knowing that it would fill you with shame and remorse if you heard that one of those men were dead to-morrow morning;  you who are letting your neighbour starve, till you hear that he is dying of starvation;  or letting your friend’s heart ache for a word of appreciation or sympathy, which you mean to give him some day, if you only could know and see and feel, all of a sudden, that the time is short, how it would break the spell!   How you would go instantly and do the thing which you might never have another chance to do.

PHILLIPS BROOKS

WHY wilt thou defer thy good purpose from day to day?   Arise and begin in this very instant, and say, ‘Now is the lime to be doing, now is the lime to be striving, now is the fit time to amend myself.’

THOMAS À KEMPIS

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These quotes are from ‘Being and Doing’ A selection of helpful thoughts from various authors arranged for daily reading.

Collected by Constance M Whishaw and first published in 1908 for members of the Being and Doing Guild whose object is to do all they can for the relief of suffering and misery.

Most of the writers are 19th Century Christians from Britain and Europe who were committed to living their faith through deeds as well as words – Being AND Doing.

For many years these words have kept me company and encouraged me on the journey of faith.  I hope they will encourage others also.