Ever So Gently . . .

(St. Francis de Sales)

“Truly, ever so gently we must continue to cut out of our lives all that is superfluous and worldly. Don’t you see that no one prunes vines by hacking them with an axe but by cutting them very carefully with a pruning hook, one shoot at a time? I saw a piece of sculpture once that an artist had worked at for ten years before it was completed; during all that time with chisel and burin he never stopped chipping away at everything that was in the way of exact proportions. No, there is no doubt about it, we cannot possibly arrive in a day where we aspire to be. We have to take this step today; tomorrow; another; and thus, step by step, achieve self-mastery, which is no small victory.”
~St. Francis de Sales