[a big goal is like] crossing an ocean. Some people try [by themselves], day after day, … That’s like taking a rowboat across the ocean. It’s exhausting and usually unsuccessful.
Others have given up trying and throw themselves entirely on “relying on God’s grace.” They’re like drifters on a raft. They do nothing but hang on and hope God gets them there.
Neither trying nor drifting are very effective in [achieving the big goals]. A better image the sailboat, in which if it moves at all, it’s a gift of the wind. We can’t control the wind, but a good sailor discerns where the wind is blowing and adjusts the sails accordingly.
~ John Ortberg
the world around you
Kites rise against, not with, the wind. No man has ever worked his passage anywhere in a dead calm.
~John Neal