What have you come for?

Let us look to ourselves and be sober, brothers.
Who will give us back this present time if we waste it?
If we actually had to seek these days we would not have found them.

Abba Arsenios was always saying to himself, "Arsenios, what have you come for?"

We are in such a negligent and ruinous condition that we don't know why we have come; we don't know even what we want and, therefore, we make no progress, but we are always distressed.

This comes about because we have no set purpose in our hearts and actually if we were to resolve to fight a little, in a short time we should not find life distressing or laborious.
For if from the beginning a man does violence to himself and struggles with himself a little in a short time he makes progress and afterwards he goes on peacefully, when God seeing that he does violence to himself, brings him help.

We must, then, do ourselves violence. Let us lay down a good foundation, let us meanwhile desire what is good.

—Abba Dorotheos of Gaza