Path to salvation must be difficult

 The road to true happiness which I have pointed out lies far removed from the great thoroughfare and the ascent seems steep and difficult. And yet one should be capable of finding that path and following it. For verily, that which is so rare must be full of difficulties . If salvation were attained easily and without hardship,  not so many would miss  the path or decide to retrace their steps so soon. But  surrounding the  sublime are ramparts  and trenches that do not permit free  passage to anyone without a great battle. 

Spinoza 

Faith as a task

We always live by faith; yet this faith is given to us as a task. God does not make himself known and loved at once. He  does not wish us to fall into stagnation. We  must seek him to the end of the world and to the end of our days . We are pilgrims on the roads to God,  placed among the ages and nations,  always wandering, always seeking. 

From 

Spinoza: portrait of a spiritual hero

by Kayser Rudolf

Turn away from frivolous things

Divine Providence governs every man, in uninterrupted continuity; this gift,  everyone who so desires can always have at his disposal.  A man who turns his thoughts away from frivolous things, who arrives at a knowledge of God in the right way, and feels himself  blessed by it, can come to no evil;  for then he is with God, and God is with him. Should he, however, turn his thoughts away from God , then God is far from him , and he is far from God;  and is thus subject to every possible evil. For the special Divine  Providence which protects us from the ocean of chance, is the result of that same divine, spiritual gift.

Maimonides 

To my sister

It is the first mild day of March :

Each  minute sweeter than before,

 The redbreast sings from the tall larch

 that stands beside our door.

There  is a  blessing in the air,

 which seems a sense of joy to yield

 to the bare trees, and mountains bare,

and grass in the green field.

 My sister ! (it is a wish of mine )

now that our morning meal is done,

 make haste, your morning task resign;

 come forth and feel the sun.

 Edward will come with you ;—and , pray,

put on with speed your woodland dress;

and bring no book:  for this one day 

we will give to idleness.

No joyless forms shall regulate 

our living calendar :

we from today, my friend , will date

 the opening  of the year.

Love , now  a universal birth,

from heart to heart is stealing ,

from earth to man, from man to earth:

— it is the hour of feeling. 

one moment now may give us more 

than years of toiling reason:

our minds shall drink at every pore

 the spirit of the season .

some silent laws our hearts will make,

 which they shall long obey:

We for the year to come may take 

our temper from today.

And from the blessed  power that rolls 

about, below, above,

we will frame the measure of our souls :

They shall be turned  to love .

Then, come, my sister ! come , I pray,

with  speed put on your woodland dress;

 and bring no book:  for this one day 

we will give to idleness.

William Wordsworth