Painting of St. Jane entering Heaven, with St. Francis de Sales to welcome her, 

St. Francis Church, Annecy, France

Reading the words of St. Francis de Sales is soothing and peace-inducing, yet somehow motivating at the same time. Imagine what it would have been like to receive his personal advice on your spiritual life! A couple of times, St. Jane de Chantal had to leave her convent to go settle the estates of her children (remember, she was a widow. Her husband died in a hunting accident when she was in her 20's). When her father and then father-in-law passed away, they left large castles and estates to be settled in her children's favor. During that time, St. Francis de Sales wrote these reassuring, yet stimulating words to his spiritual child:

"I beg you, my dearest daughter, to keep close to Jesus and Mary in all that you have to do, that the multiplicity of business matters may not trouble or their difficulty astonish you. Do one thing at a time as well as you can, faithfully giving it your attention, but sweetly and gently. If God allows you to succeed in it, we shall bless Him for it; if not, we shall still bless Him....Treat of earthly affairs with your eyes fixed on Heaven."

~ St. Francis de Sales, in a letter to St. Jane de Chantal