Where It All Begins

A brother asked a word from an elder:

How might I best begin to turn to God?

The Abba replied:

Begin with your complete renunciation of money. Doing so digs out the root of everything else because it is so deeply tied to our tendency to want and to acquire everything, even that which money cannot buy. Than, following the renunciation of money it is critical that you strip yourself of the love of praise, because finding God does not depend on your own worthiness or qualifications, but upon relinquishing your own ego and every right that you were raised to believe was yours.

- Syria, 5th C.