Let us in all the troubles of life remember that our one lack is life — and what we need is more life — more of the life-making presence in us making us more, and more largely alive. When most oppressed, when most weary of “life,” as our unbelief would phrase it, let us remember that it is, in truth, the inroad and presence of death we are weary of. When most inclined to sleep, let us rouse ourselves to live.
— George MacDonald, Unspoken Sermons, Second Series, quoted in Knowing the Heart of God, edited by Michael Phillips, p. 21