It isn't what you mean to do a week ahead, It isn't what you dreamed and planned - The gain of those few painful hours: * Which guide each mind, uphold each hand, Strive with the best at your command ANONYMOUS. Infinite Father, we rejoice in the gifts of life and its opportunities for service. Make us, we pray Thee, content with our place in life and help us to use life for the greatest good possible. Give us to know the value of the little tasks and duties that come to us as the moments fly and with their millions of minutes, we will accumulate a million little duties well done a really great achievement for any life. Grant us this contentment and this endeavor for the Master's sake and our own. Amen. GEORGE W. KING. The best preacher is the heart; the best teacher is time; the best book is the world; the best friend is God. THE TALMUD. Not for one single day But this I surely know Who gives the day Will show the way So I securely go. JOHN OXENHAM. Dear Father, we cannot discern our way this day except as Thou leadest, but like the child who unquestionably grasps the Father's hand and goes forward unfalteringly, so we, secure in Thee, take up the duties of the day. Make us joyful and serene in them, recognizing them as blessings, not tasks. We thank Thee for all that has come to us through a heart attuned to Thy will; for the time bestowed for learning Thy lessons; for a place in the world where we have read Thy love, wisdom and power; for Thy friendship, marvelous in its aims, outreachings, and with-holdings for us. May we grow in knowledge of Thee through service, then this will be a sunlit day. Amen. ISABELLA H. DEMAREST. Who worship, should pursue; "Arise! Perfection seek, O God, our Father, grant to us to-day the light of the Sun of Righteousness, and send showers of grace, so that we may bloom in the beauty of holiness and bring forth fruit to the glory of Thy name. May we be up and doing, knowing that the night cometh. Help us that we may not shirk responsibility or fear the consequences of right living. If we fail, trusting too much in ourselves, we will try again, trusting more in Thee. May we welcome today all that Thou hast for us to do, to suffer, or to enjoy. This we ask in the name of Him who is the Light, the Life, and the Bright and Morning Star. Amen. JOHN GREENLEAF OAKLEY. There's a tender, holy feeling, as of Autumn in the air, 'Tis a prayer, 'tis a prayer; Sweet benedictions and all blessings beam upon us, While memories of Summer now faintly fade away, "O, let Love the harvest be, With the tender, holy feeling, as of Autumn in the air. ROBERT LOVEMAN. We praise Thee for the summer ended, for the harvest ungathered, for the autumn with its fruitage. We thank Thee for the lessons of the falling leaf when the trees have clothed themselves in tenderest gold as if to gladly welcome that from which we, because of inherited forebodings, shrink under the awful name of Death. Teach us the blessings of sorrow, the uses of pain, the helpfulness of disappointments, the tenderness of the healing touch of time, so that we shall come to know that all things of life are working together toward the consummation of that plan which includes our highest good. Amen. C. SEYMOUR BULLOCK. I always felt the blackest cloud would lift, I hoped that good would grow from everything, And, dreaming of a distance dim and far, FANNY DE GROOT HASTINGS. Gladly, our Heavenly Father, we open our eyes to the beauty of Thy day, and our hearts to the holiness of Thy abiding presence, with the faith that Thou wilt give us courage to do our sacred duty. May the grateful heart and the trusting mind prompt the willing hands to do the day's work, lifting it above drudgery into the joy of service, for love's sweet sake. With mind and heart in us, dear Father, we will strive to realize even now the glorious hope of the future, and to bring into our hearts this day the joy of the kingdom which comes from the consciousness of a day well spent. Amen. ULYSSES SUMNER MILBURN. |