When nights are calm, and days are dear, When hope is throned in the heart, ROBERT LOVEMAN. Our Father who art in heaven, we thank Thee this morning that Thou dost give us songs even in the night. We thank Thee also that after the night comes the morning, that after the darkness comes the light and that after our doubts and fears come the clear skies and shining sun. Forgive us that we have ever doubted Thy goodness. Forgive us that we have complained and murmured when we should have been thankful and happy. Help us to begin this day with songs of praise, and to make it a joyous day for all who come within the circle of our influence. Thus may our smiles and sunshine and our singing make others glad. Amen. WILLIAM BURT. One day an old umbrella mender brought his skeleton frames and tinkering tools into the alley of my office. As he sat on a box in the sun, mending the broken and torn umbrella, I noticed that he seemed to take unusual pains, testing the cloth, carefully measuring and strongly sewing the covers. "You seem extra careful," I remarked. "Yes," he said, working without looking up; “I try to do good work.” "Your customers would not know the difference until you were gone," I persisted. "No; I suppose not." "Do you ever expect to come back?" 66 66 "No." 'Then why are you so particular?” "So that it will be easier for the other fellow the next one who comes along," he answered simply. ANONYMOUS. Help us to think of Thee, O God, who upholdest the universe and hearest the cry of the feeblest of Thy little ones. Inspire our every thought and purpose, that we may be Thy faithful servants, remembering that he who is faithful in the least is faithful also in much. In the fragment of time granted us this day may we do some work of healing and repair for those in need of help, which shall make the world a better place to live in, and bring heaven nearer to all men. Amen. WILLIAM H. SPENCER. O thou God's mariner! heart of mine, A thread of law runs through thy prayer And love and longing toward her goal So life must live and soul must sail, And all God's argosies come to shore, And so 'mid storm or calm my bark And sweeping down the wind I go. DAVID ATWOOD WASSON. Father Divine, by whose creative love we are called into these mysterious ways of human experience, grant us now a deep and abiding confidence in Thee. May no disenchantments of the years have power to disturb our cheerful faith. Grant to us visions of the pilot stars. Dispel the mists in which we go astray. Fill our sails with Thy favoring gales. Make us to study the charts that tell us where the reefs and shallows lie and where the false lights burn. Guide our course and check our wanderings by Thy steadfast laws and protect us with Thine unwearied care. Send out Thy light and Thy truth to lead us in ways of righteousness, of service and of joy. Amen. SAMUEL A. ELIOT. A dear old lady used to travel always with a bag of flower seeds, and wherever she went she would throw handfuls of the seeds out of the car windows, and flowers sprang up along the railroads as her contribution of love and beauty to the world. There are happy spirits going through life scattering the flowers of kind words, smiles, laughter, helpfulness and love. Look out for the man with his bag of nettles, burdock and skunk-cabbage. Waylay him, take away his sharp stuff, and give him, instead, a bag of flower seeds to beautify his path. If he knows no sound but the croaking of the frog, try and teach him the song of the lark. He will enjoy it much better when he learns it, and he will be transformed from a nuisance to a maker of joy. EUGENE THWING. Lord of life and light, we worship Thee. There is no darkness in Thee; may there be none in us. Flood the new day Thou hast given us with Thy light of life, the life more abundant. May rivers of living water flow from us to-day to earth's parched places, and touch Thy drooping human flowers and make them live again. As Christ gave His life, so may we give ours. Let us carry to a hungry world Thy living bread. May Thy joy in us be contagious. May we gather only honey, like the bee; but unlike it, let us hoard none. Make earth gladder and richer this day because we live. Amen. EVANGELIST N. H. HARRIMAN. Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather-only different kinds of good weather. In spite of the gloom In my little room, JOHN RUSKIN. A plant, to-day, is in fragrant bloom. The rain, the wind, It does not mind, And sweeter flowers you'll never find. I'll whisper, dear, Its name in your ear It's the little plant called Inside Cheer! ALICE E. Allen. We thank Thee, our Father, for the triumph Thy grace gives us, in our inner and truer life, over all the shocks of outward vicissitude. We thank Thee that by Thy aid we may have in bleakest winter a summer of the soul; in dreariest days glimpses of cloudless skies; amid dangers and discomforts the peace of God that passeth understanding. We thank Thee devoutly for our home, our friends, our books; for our abiding faith in truth and goodness; for fellowship with noble minds; for hours of sacred communion: Thus, our Father, Thou makest us to lie down in green pastures, Thou leadest us beside the still waters, Thou restorest our soul. And thus, through Thee, O God of life and love, we ever keep a cheerful heart. Amen. I. M. ATWOOD. |