Observed, and Taken to Heart

1. That even the best people sleep, and that there is no end to all the awakening that is needed.

2. That God gives abundant grace to the upright in His time.

3. That unity is of invaluable worth.

4. That mature love does not corrode easily.

5. That you eventually have to return to what you have attempted to avoid.

6. That only very few take God’s Word seriously.

7. That being separate—as God’s Word says—is one of the most rewarding things a person can do.

8. That birds of a feather flock together.

9. That as an ignored splinter in the body can eventually result in a large boil, so can an ignored sin be the cause of a person’s ruin.

10. That you increase the number of the faithful by admitting as few as possible.

11. That just as there are drinking buddies in the world, so there are sulking buddies and backbiting sisters (among others) among God’s people.

12. That overcoming is a tremendous either /or.

13. That a person trying to hide his folly is similar to a hare hiding his head under the heather even while his entire body is visible.

14. That bitter envy can manifest itself at a fairly advanced stage of the Christian life.

15. That, unfortunately, most people fail when the situation becomes too embarrassing.

16. That things that damage the soul of one person leave another person totally unaffected.

17. That punishment for disobedience is quite a long-lasting pain.

18. That God’s people, because of a lack of the fear of God, assume many unnecessary, self-inflicted sufferings, besides the necessary sufferings of Christ.

19. That a person can be so obsessed with himself that he even gives his failures the appearance of noble actions or heroic deeds.

20. That profound grief and sufferings arise when all the help a soul needs is available, but one is unable to help him in the least because he lacks receptivity.

21. That by causing a disturbance, a person can be set back in the race, the length of which corresponds to the kind, the magnitude, and the scope of the disturbance.

22. That through faithful devotion, a person can make good again what he has done wrong in a time span that corresponds to the perfection of his faithful devotion.

23. That some people live in poverty and, so to speak, stumble over accessible riches, without laying hold of them.

24. That by God’s grace and longsuffering, a person can have His blessings over his life and his house again after having been in a bad state for a longer period of time.

25. That a person, when he has not sufficiently used the opportunity to learn from a catastrophe, is placed into several catastrophes by a faithful God.

26. That people, by explaining away something of the truth, explain away something of their happiness.

27. That God has amazingly many and versatile instruments for our education, and that He uses them faithfully.

28. That by hesitating to live according to God’s Word, man lengthens his agony and troubles and postpones the time of his increased happiness.

29. That devoting yourself to doing the best you can even though it is imperfect, is better than sitting on your hands and criticizing all those who do their best.

30. That vainglory is a very shameful glory.

31. That greed flourishes powerfully because it is not very well recognized.

32. That it is possible to make a pompous speech about a topic on which the speaker is in blissful ignorance.

33. That the person who does not want to listen gets to feel it.

34. That getting rid of old habits is like getting a wagon out of a rut half a meter deep.

35. That religious impertinence can assume incomprehensible dimensions.

36. That people excuse themselves to their eternal loss.

37. That you can fall into terrible snares by judging on the basis of suspicion.

38. That most people are slow to lay hold of God’s gifts and quick to let them go again. That it is extremely important for them to lay hold of the gifts, but then they do not care to make use of them.

39. That people are so used to evil that they sin against the good by assuming that it is natural for them to do so, as people usually do so in similar situations. It doesn’t even occur to them that it is possible to do it differently.

40. That old leaven is nothing to play around with.

41. That every leader has a tremendous responsibility which it is difficult for him to be aware of in its entirety.

42. That it is good for us frequently to be alone a little bit.

43. As the master, so his apprentice.

44. That it is possible to lose yourself in details by losing sight of the essentials.

45. That the lust to judge is the surest and quickest way to hell.

46. That one is absent at the very moment one should have been present, and that it happens that one is present when it was not at all necessary.

47. That it is so incredibly easy for everyone to slack off.

48. That not a few people are on the way to where there is gnashing of teeth, saying, “I am right, I am right.” Why? Because they were so occupied with their “right” that they forgot to love.

49. That a person is not so bad as long as he is on his knees, but that it is worse with him when he has stood up again.

50. That ledgers say not a little about a person’s state.

51. That it is easier to succumb to theoretical explanations than to sacrifice yourself for the salvation of souls.

52. That there can be a fair amount of sediment in a good person who is new on the way.

53. That merchants have a fair amount of knowledge about the state of Christians when it concerns godliness with contentment.

54. That you can waste time and strength, suffering eternal loss, by occupying yourself with earthly things instead of with spiritual things.

55. That you can forget yourself to the point of blaming your neighbor instead of helping him.

56. That money clings to most people more firmly than they suspect.

57. That most of God’s Word goes right over the heads of most believers.

58. That one ought to consider that there are few—extremely few—who can accomplish anything in the spiritual realm, whereas there is an abundance of laborers in the temporal realm.

59. If you do not constantly stay close to God, you will easily fall back into the old ruts again.

60. That the fruits of faithful labor prove to be just as plentiful and blessed as the waiting time has been long.

61. That above all else, it is important to endure.

62. That we should not be so busy placing people because we are so often wrong. God Himself puts people precisely where they are best placed, where they truly belong.

63. That most people who are dying prefer to live longer, but God nevertheless takes them away. This can be a powerful reminder of the immense difference between pious wishes and accomplishing something. Why does God take them away? Because He sees that they would not have executed their desire to do it better.

64. That a person’s stubbornness can lay waste several years of his brief life.

65. That most girls pierce themselves with many unnecessary sorrows because they do not totally and unreservedly leave it up to God to arrange a potential marriage for them.

66. That in the natural, people are in the habit of taking their own medicine, but when it is a matter of spiritual things, they are very often mostly interested in other people’s medicines.

67. That the humble person has every possible advantage.

68. That children who have God-fearing parents have an especially good opportunity of going far, if only they are so prudent as to make use of the easy access they have to acquire all the things that their parents have fought for.

69. That the bow breaks when it is too taut.

70. That zeal together with discernment is a good #1. That without discernment, you commit many stupid and foolish acts which you are sure to pay for, but that this is still better than lukewarmness and slothfulness, which is worst of all.

Elias Aslaksen