Live by the day--ay, by the hour.  put no trust in frames and feelings.  Care more for a grain of faith than a ton of excitement.  Trust in God alone, and lean not on the reeds of human help.  Be not surprised when friends fail you: it is a failing world.  Never count upon immutability in man: inconstancy you may reckon upon without fear of disappointment.  The disciples of Jesus forsook him; be not amazed if your adherents wander away to other teachers: as they were not your all when with you, all is not gone from you with their departure.  Serve God with all your might while the candle is burning, and then when it goes out for a season, you will have the less to regret.  Be content to be nothing, for that is what you are.  When your own emptiness is painfully forced upon your consciousness, chide yourself that you ever dreamed of being full, except in the Lord.  Set small store by present rewards; be grateful for earnests by the way, but look for the recompensing joy hereafter.  Continue, with double earnestness to serve your Lord when no visible result is before you.  Any simpleton can follow the narrow path in the light: faith's rare wisdom enables us to march on in the dark with infallible accuracy, since she places her hand in that of her great Guide.  Between this and heaven there may be rougher weather yet, but it is all provided for by our covenant Head.  In nothing let us be turned aside from the path which the divine call has urged us to pursue.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Lectures to my Students