"A man may look another in the face for a hundred years and not know him. Men have looked Jesus Christ in the face, and not known either Him or His Father. It was necessary that He should appear, to begin the knowing of Him, but His visible presence was quickly taken away so that it would not become a veil to hide men from the Father of their spirits. Many long for some sensible sign or intellectual proof. But such would only delay and impair that better ,that best, vision-- a contact with the heart of God Himself, a perception of His being imparted by His spirit. For the sake of the vision God longs to give you, you are denied the vision you want. The Father of our spirits is not content that we should know Him as we now know each other. There is a better, closer, and nearer way than any human way of knowing, and He is guiding us to that across all the swamps of our unteachableness, the seas of our faithlessness, the deserts of our ignorance.

Is it so very hard to wait for that which we cannot yet receive? Shall we complain of the shadows cast upon the mirrors of our souls by the hand and the polishing cloth, to receive more excellent glory? Have patience, children of the Father. Pray always, and do not faint. The mists and the storms and the cold will pass; the sun and the sky are forever. The most loving of you cannot imagine how one day the love of the Father will make you love. Even your own."

-George MacDonald, The Lady's Confession, page 150