You’ve become scattered.  It’s time to steady yourself, to put aside everything else and sit within your heart.  Think about lent and compare it with your present state.  What a difference!  You will undoubtedly be in Iver when this letter reaches you, and there everything is different.  Take up reading and avoid company.  Your situation is ruining you! Arrange an orderly schedule of prayer, reading and handiwork. Cut down on socializing. Just you and God – how good that is! But when this will be, we’ll let the Lord decide.  It’s better to let things take their own course, because then they are not ordered by human wisdom but by God’s allowance. And see the result! You are responsible for involving yourself in acquaintanceships and amusements. This is not a trifling matter. Today, tomorrow – who knows when death will come. And there they won’t be dealing cards to see what our fate should be.

Bishop Theophan the Recluse