"It is not your business to succeed, but to do right. When you have done so the rest lies with God." (C. S. Lewis)
“Our culture glorifies self-effort and personal achievement. It defines a successful person as one who obtains certain goals: financial security, health and fitness, and the respect of others…Real stability and success come only to those who do what it right.” (Life Application Study Bible, Hebrews 9:14, Proverbs 12:3)
“You were designed to know Him, not simply to have a comfortable life. You were not created just to get married, have children and a successful career, then grow old and enjoy retirement. These are some of life’s benefits, its side dishes, not its purpose. The tragedy today is that we have taken life’s benefits and tried to make them our purpose. We’re trying to make the side dishes the main course. The result is that we often find the benefits very unsatisfactory. No wonder. So if the purpose of life is not marriage, success, happiness, or any of that, what is it? What were we created for? Answer: We were created to know and worship God..." (NIV Men's Devotional Bible)
“Many people sail through their life thinking happiness is something they have created for themselves. They think good fortune and success in work and play are things they’ve brought about, either through struggle or by pure luck. And when they experience difficult times or the loss of things that brought them comfort, they despair. Sometimes it takes the loss of this established order to enlighten our darkened hearts to the reality that only happiness that is of an eternal nature will never be lost. For someone who has been so enlightened, nothing can take away from the comfort and security she experiences that are based in faith. God’s grace fills her very essence with such peace that nothing—even loss of worldly comforts—can bring about despair.” (Abbot Tryphon)
“But in the Gospel of Christ, we are reminded that God’s judgments are quite different, and that the success or failure of each of us, as we stand before the dreaded judgment seat, will not be determined by the size of our bank account or the extent of our fame. Rather we shall be judged by the standard of whether in life we reached"to the very height of Christ’s full stature.” (Eph. 4:13). This sobering revelation should inspire us to be concerned about the kind of people we are; after all, we shall not be judged by the standard of the worst among us, but rather of the best. And if we call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ, we have an added incentive to live as we should.” (Rev. Andrew Demotses)
“All aspects of life are intertwined, and each must be given proper attention and effort. We all tend to become one-dimensional creatures, focusing primarily on only one aspect of life. Becoming lopsided we bump down the road—out of balance—increasing our wear and tear, our stress and distress." (J. Allan Petersen)
“Stress doesn’t always have to be as stressful as we make it. To be sure, there will be good days and bad days. But if we are living prayerfully and focused on Christ as we should, we will have a higher perspective that helps us not judge and react to a temporary stressful situation as if it is a permanent reality.” (Sacramental Living Blog)
"By itself, stress won’t destroy our families; but the way we handle it can…The stresses of marriage and the home are designed to produce brokenness, to wean one from self-centeredness, and to produce the graces of sacrificial love and gentleness." (Sandra Aldrich, Paul Billheimer)
“Our hearts are much distressed and burdened, so we go to prayer and maybe spend much time pouring out our petitions before the throne. And too many times we get up immediately, rush out of His presence and often try to answer the prayer by some efforts of our own." (John Wright Follette)
"The more people deviate from the natural simple life and move toward luxury, the more human stress increases. And as worldly politeness expands, simplicity, joy and the natural human smile are lost.” (Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos)
“How is it that people who are genuinely committed to living their lives in the Christian faith, a faith… can continue to experience considerable levels of stress and anxiety, even to the point of being emotionally overwhelmed…As members of a highly advanced technological society, it is not surprising that the hyper-saturation of stimuli available to us through so many channels results not in feelings of satisfaction, but rather in feelings of uneasiness. These stimuli place heavy pressures upon us.” (Archbishop of America Demetrios)
“Pray no matter what – everyday. The more we stress, usually the less we pray because of time constraints.” (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese)
“Unfortunately, we often don’t hear God, or even turn to God, because of all the static we create in our lives through busyness, stress, worry, and generally not doing the things we need to do (i.e., Church, prayer, Bible study, fasting, Communion). The purpose of these things is not stress relief but to grow in our union with God. However, stress relief is often what occurs. It’s like a fringe benefit of sorts.” (Sacramental Living II)
“The difference between the way people handle stress can often be defined by their faith in God. Those with faith see their difficulties as opportunities to grow…” (Marianne C. Sailus)
“God is never out to break us or shatter us. He knows our frame and will not overload us in times of stress. Rather, He seeks to use our stressful times as cleverly disguised opportunities for us to gain His perspective, lean on His strength, and develop steadfastness with which we can run life's course. God may not change the circumstance that is pressing so grievously on you. He may not remove that person who vexes you so greatly. He may not heal that affliction that daily grates away at your body and soul. But He will dramatically alter your own emotions and responses as you turn to Him instead of running or exploding.” (Charles F. Stanley)