When I went in again the little house had suddenly grown lonely, and my room looked empty as it had the day I came. I and all my belongings had died … - Sarah Orne Jewett

So we die before our own eyes; so we see some chapters of our lives come to their natural end.

To let God make us, instead of painfully trying to make ourselves; to follow the path that his love shows us, instead of through conceit or cowardice or mockery choosing another; to trust Him for our strength and fitness as the flowers do, simply giving ourselves back to Him in grateful service, — this is to keep the laws that give us the freedom of the city in which there is no longer any night of bewilderment or ignorance or uncertainty.

Conformity is the inspiration of much second-rate virtue.

It is a splendid thing to have the use of any gift of God. It isn't for us to choose again, or wonder and dispute, but just work in our own places, and leave the rest to God.