Sailing is a wonderful activity that many illustrations can be drawn from.

In this cube we highlight two quotations, one from Oliver Wendell Holmes and another from John Ortberg.

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Included Quotations:

[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

I find that the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.

~ Oliver Wendell Holmes