All as God wills, who wisely heeds
To give or to withhold;
And knoweth more of all my needs
Than all my prayers have told!
Enough that blessings undeserved
Have marked my erring track;
That wheresoe'er my feet have swerved
His chastening turned me back;
That more and more a Providence
Of love is understood,
Making the springs of time and sense
Sweet with eternal good;
That death seems but a covered way
Which opens into light,
Wherein no blinded child can stray
Beyond the Father's sight.
--John Greenleaf Whittier.
What most you wish and long for
Might only bring you pain;
You cannot see the future,
God's purpose to explain.
So trust, faint heart, thy Master!
He doeth all things well,
He loveth more than heart can guess,
And more than tongue can tell.