Friday Five- Amy Carmichael quotes

Confession: I was not so inspired to do the Friday Five today. L. suggested, "what about 5 spring things?" but truthfully, it's just not all that spring-y around here. I thought of some sorts of nonsense, but today I found myself back paging through this jewel, and so, such is my inspiration for today's 5:

1. Reflecting on her childhood: "When told how exceedingly naughty she was, Amy used to think, 'If you only knew how much naughtier I could be, you wouldn't think I'm naughty at all."
(can't most of us relate to that!)

2. On seeking utter holiness: "If we are not clean when we bear the vessels of the Lord,' she wrote in May of 1894, 'we may profane His holy name in the things which we hallow. Our very service a defiling thing!..."

3. On prayer: "We have one crystal clear reason apart from the blessed happiness of this way of life. It is this: prayer is the core of our day. Take prayer out, and the day would collapse, would be pithless, a straw blown in the wind. But how can you pray- really pray, I mean- with one against whom you have a grudge or whom you have been discussing critically with another? Try it. You will find it cannot be done."

4. On mothering, from a card pasted inside the cover of Amy's Bible: "These children are dear to Me. Be a mother to them, and more than a mother. Watch over them tenderly, be just and kind. If thy heart is not large enough to embrace them, I will enlarge it after a pattern of my own. If these young children are docile and obedient, bless Me for it; if they are froward, call upon Me for help; if they weary thee, I will be Thy consolation; if thou sink under thy burden, I will be thy Reward."

5. On obedience to Call: "Remember our God did not say to me, 'I have something greater for you to do.' This life is not greater than the other, but it is different. That is all. For some our Father chooses one, for some He chooses the other, all that matters is that we should be obedient 'unto all meeting of His wishes.' "