"What is joy? Or what is it to be joyful? It is to be present to oneself; but to be truly present to oneself is this thinking of ‘today’, that is, this thing of being today, of truly being today. And in the same degree that it is more true that thou art today, in the same degree that thou art quite present to thyself in being today, in that very same degree is the baleful tomorrow non-existent for thee. Joy is the present tense, with the whole emphasis upon the present. Therefore it is that God is blessed, who eternally says, Today, and therefore it is that the lilies and the birds are joy, because with silence and unconditional obedience they are entirely present to themselves in being today. P. 349-350"
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The Lily of the Field and the Bird of the Air
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