Learning from birds

 --> As I walked outside, I saw birds flying, and I realized how similar we are to the birds. If we want, we have the power to rise higher and higher. We learn from the birds, though, that to remain high, the bird must constantly flap its wings. The human, too, has to be constantly engaged in maintaining the level he has reached in yiras Shamayim (fear of Heaven). If he stops trying any time, he will plunge downward to the earth.

R' Yisrael Salanter