share Thy strength and know Thy life? Let us commune with Thy gracious
spirit and so learn Thy way. How beautiful the vision which prayer
unfolds to us when we worship in spirit and truth! We see the virtues
which ennoble and sanctify other lives. Sweet and tender patience
appears and in her light ruffled and distorted tempers are subdued and
clothed in their right mind. Faith is seen and as irresolution and doubt
take their flight, confident trust and cherished conviction appear in
magnetic power. So, O Lord, would we read the signs which other lives
present. So would we strengthen our own aspirations and make real the
vision. So, O Father, would we find Thy peace. Amen.
AUGUSTINE N. FOSTER.
June 1
_A season for simple living with the kindly sun and the blue sky,
days of keen delight in little things, of joyous questing after
beauty, days for the making of true friends by being a true friend
to others, days when we may enlarge our little lives by excursions
to strange places, by friendly association, by the companionship of
great thoughts, days that may teach us to live nobly, to work
joyously, to play harder, to do our labor better. So should each
June bring us indeed a golden summer._
EDWIN OSGOOD GROVER.
Heavenly Father, Thou givest all good things. We thank Thee for life and
hope and cheer. In gratitude we consecrate this day to blessing Thy
children, and so to serving Thee who hast said, "Inasmuch as ye have
done it unto these, ye have done it unto Me." Teach us the gladness of a
life responsive to Thy messages through Nature. Grant us the joy of
making friends by being friendly with our fellow men. Whatsoever we may
do, at work or at play, may it be in the spirit of the Saviour. We begin
this day with Thee. By its ministries may our comrades be helped and our
lives together be made nobler, stronger, and well-pleasing in Thy sight.
Amen.
MAURICE A. LEVY.
June 2
_Over the shoulders and slopes of the dune,
I saw the white daisies go down to the sea,
A host in the sunshine, an army in June,
The people God sends us to set our hearts free._
_The bobolinks rallied them up from the dell,
The orioles whistled them out of the wood,
And all of their singing was "Earth, it is well,"
And all of their dancing was, "Life, Thou art good!"_
BLISS CARMAN.
O Thou, who art the Father of Light and Love, from whom cometh down
every good and perfect gift, we thank Thee for this new born day, which
Thou sendest us, for the splendor of Thy presence in the sunlit sky
above us and the blossoming earth beneath; for spring-time flowers that
border our paths with loveliness and happy bird song, lifting our hearts
to responsive joy and praise. We thank Thee for life and health, for
home and friends, for opportunities and duties, for temptations and
trials, yea, for the very sorrows and bereavements which bring us to
ourselves in penitence, to others in sympathy, and to Thee in faith and
adoration. Thy will be done! Thy kingdom come! Amen.
CHARLES W. WENDTE.
June 3
_One small life in God's great plan,
How futile it seems as the ages roll,
Do what it may, or strive how it can,
To alter the sweep of the infinite whole!
A single stitch in an endless web,
A drop in the ocean's flow and ebb!
But the pattern is rent where the stitch is lost,
Or marred where the tangled threads have crossed;
And each life that fails of its true intent
Mars the perfect plan that its Maker meant._
SUSAN COOLIDGE.
O Thou, the heavenly Father, in whom we live and move, whose life-giving
spirit is ever around us like the air we breathe,--we lift our thoughts
to Thee in reverence and gladness at the coming of the new day. We are
glad for the quiet hours of the night, while the stars shine over us.
May we be ready now, with willing and obedient hearts, for the work, the
cares, the joys and the friendly converse of the day. We know how small
our lives are; may we share the thoughts of Thy infinite mind, may Thy
power and beauty, Thy justice and goodness possess us. May our feeble
wills be strong to carry the current of the one Good Will that sways the
universe. Amen.
CHARLES F. DOLE.
June 4
_I have lived, sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more
convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the
affairs of men._
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
_All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not
seen. Whatever it be which the great Providence prepares for us, it
must be something large and generous; and in the great style of His
works. The future must be up to the style of our faculties, of
memory, of hope, of imagination, of reason._
RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
O Thou, who in Thy greatness holds the planets on their way, and in Thy
providence guides the sparrow's flight, and in Thy tenderness marks the
sparrow's fall, may we not be blind to Thy foot-prints in the events of
every day, but see them guiding our way and feel more and more Thy love.
Father, we ask not for great things, but we ask Thee to help us in the
little needs and longings that fill our every day, to be the strength of
our every endeavor, that in our daily walk, we may feel that the earth
is warm with life and joy, that the air is full of strength, that there
comes to us from every side some message, sweet and tender, if only we
can be patient, trustful, believing that all things work together for
good to them who seek to do Thy will Amen.
JOSHUA YOUNG.
June 5
_And do not fear to hope. Can poet's brain
More than the Father's heart rich good invent?
Each time we smell the autumn's dying scent,
We know the primrose time will come again;
Not more we hope, nor less would soothe our pain.
Be bounteous in our faith, for not misspent
Is confidence unto the Father lent:
Thy need is sown and rooted for his rain,
His thoughts are as thine own; nor are his ways
Other than thine, but by their loftier sense
Of beauty infinite and love intense.
Work on! One day, beyond all thought of praise
A sunny joy will crown thee with its rays;
Nor other than thy need, thy recompense._
GEORGE MACDONALD.
Our Father, in the gratitude of loved and loving children we thank Thee
for life and all the faith and hope and love Thy goodness has awakened
in our souls. For the splendors of the world and the greater splendor of
the mind radiant with Thy love, we bow in rapture and adoration.
Overwhelmed at times by the mysteries and vicissitudes of life, we will
trust Thy will to lead us out of darkness into the light of Thine
informing spirit of truth and wisdom. Conscious of our weakness and
needs, we rejoice that strength and supply are assured to us in the
permanence of Thy Fatherhood. Lead us more and ever more to realize that
in Thee we live and move and have our being. Amen.
RICHMOND FISK.
June 6
_When a feller goes a-huntin' for a rose
He shouldn't be a-thinkin' of the thorn;
He must woo it, he must win it--
Where his heart beats he must pin it
An' breathe the breath that's in it
Every morn!_
_When a feller goes a-huntin' for a rose
He shouldn't see the thorn beneath its breast,
But for all its thorny foes.
Red and reckless,--one poor rose
Is sweet enough, God knows,
For the best._
FRANK L. STANTON.
O Lord, our God, so great is our life we may find that for which we
look,--the good or the bad. Send us into this day with eyes searching for
the good. Beholding it may we admire it and admiring it we shall become
like it changed into the same image from character to character by the
Spirit. May we be more concerned to do right than not to do wrong. Save us
from a humility that is weakness and give us largeness of life without
pride. May we want nothing so much as opportunity,--opportunity to be, to
do, to suffer. May we not strive for bigness but for fitness and may our
reception of the Christ be our forgiveness and our salvation for His name's
sake. Amen.
T. C. MARTIN.
June 7
_The beauty of work depends upon the way we meet it,--whether we
arm ourselves each morning to attack it as an enemy that must be
vanquished before night comes, or whether we open our eyes with the
sunrise to welcome it as an approaching friend who will keep us
delightful company all day, and who will make us feel at evening,
that the day was well worth its fatigues._
LUCY LARCOM.
Our Heavenly Father, Thou givest us light for the hours of labor and
darkness for the hours of slumber. We toil and then we rest. We sleep
and then we arise, to perform the tasks which await us. Convince us, O
God, that the life which Thou hast given us to live is more than working
that we may rest, and resting that we may work. Persuade us that it is
for some great and good end. Help us to understand that even as we live
in Thee so Thou dost fulfil Thine eternal purposes in and through us.
Teach us that our smallest effort is important to Thee. So may we dread
no duty. So may every moment of every day be precious in our sight.
Amen.
ROGER S. FORBES.
June 8
_And those who heard the Singers three
Disputed which the best might be;
For still their music seemed to start
Discordant echoes in each heart._
_But the great Master said, "I see
No best in kind, but in degree;
I gave a various gift to each,
To charm, to strengthen, and to teach._
_"These are the three great chords of might,
And he whose ear is tuned aright,
Will hear no discord in the three,
But the most perfect harmony."_
HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.
O God, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for all Thy mercies new every
morning, and fresh every evening, but especially we bless Thee that Thou
callest us to Thy service and kingdom by Jesus Christ, our Lord, and
hast vouchsafed to each of us some gracious gift whereby we may
accomplish Thy holy will concerning us. Grant that we may so improve and
use that pearl of price as to enhance greatly the welfare of Thy
children. Help each to see the good in all, and all to see the good in
each, that all may strive together in sinless and sweet accord for the
common weal and thus for the glory of Thy name, and so hasten the happy
day when all souls shall be one, as prayed the Saviour of the world.
Amen.
ALFRED P. PUTNAM.
June 9
_Men talk sometimes as if the passage of a ship through the sea or
a bird through the air is a fit symbol of man's passage through
this world. I do not think so. A better symbol would be the passage
of a plough through the soil leaving a furrow behind. What does the
furrow include? All the memory of every beautiful picture and
landscape you have ever seen. It includes the memory of every
experience, every sweet association, every tie of love, whether of
father, mother, wife or children. All these, whether living or
dead, speak to you. They have a voice, a language that you will
understand._
GEORGE L. PERIN.
We thank Thee, O God, for the many influences past and present which
have had a share in the moulding of our lives and characters toward a
larger usefulness and a more perfect realization of the Christian ideal.
We thank Thee for the mother's love which watched over us through years
of helplessness; for the father's love which made provision for our
wants, for the human sympathy which has everywhere blessed and
strengthened us and made life brighter; for the friends of youth and age
who have helped us to better things. Grant, O God, that a memory of
these blessings may abide with us so long as life may last, and that as
we have been helped by others to walk the way of life we may not forget
to extend a helping hand to those who may need our comfort and our
sympathy.
ORIN EDSON CROOKER.
June 10
_It is not to taste sweet things, but to do noble and true things,
and vindicate himself under God's heaven, as a God-made man, that
the poorest son of Adam dimly longs. This dim longing for what is
noble and true, the still small voice which calls to one
imperatively in moments of temptation, is the safeguard which, if
hearkened to, not only protects one in severe trials of manliness
and womanliness, but also incites to the formation of a fine
character, without which all acquisitions, all graces and
accomplishments, all talents and all learning, are but as sounding
brass and a tinkling cymbal._
THOMAS CARLYLE.
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, in grateful recognition of Thy love
and watchful care, we thank Thee for the repose of the night and the
promise of the day. Our desire is to do Thy will, and we ask for the
guidance and inspiration of Thy spirit. Enable us to perform faithfully
all the work that Thou hast given us to do. Grant us a sufficiency of
Thy grace to treat all our fellowmen as children of Thine, and when
night comes may we have the blessed assurance that through the
experiences of this day we have become a little more like Thine own
glorious self in love and holiness. We ask it in the name of Jesus, our
example, and Saviour. Amen.
WARREN S. PERKINS.
June 11
_Now it is June, and the secret is told;
Flashed from the buttercup's glory of gold;
Hummed in the bumblebee's gladness, and sung
New from each bough where a bird's nest is swung;
Breathed from the clover-beds, when the winds pass;
Chirped in small psalms, through the aisles of the grass._
HENRY JAMES, SR.
Dear Father, in the morning hour of this new day, we thank Thee for the
glorious revelation of Thyself in the open Book of Nature. May we love
the beautiful and therein love Thee, with a true and abiding affection.
Grant unto us the understanding that it is only as we have the spirit of
the beautiful in our lives that we can appreciate the beautiful without
us. So may we value this life, which is from Thee, as a means of
attaining a larger usefulness and for realizing that goodness which is
ever heavenly. In simply trying to be nobler, more unselfish, like unto
Christ, we pray, that we may learn how good is life. Amen.
THOMAS EDWARD POTTERTON.
June 12
_Methinks I love all common things,
The common air, the common flower,
The dear, kind, common thought that springs
From hearts that have no other dower,
No other wealth, no other power,
Save love; and will not that repay
For all else fortune tears away?_
BRYAN WALLER PROCTER.
We thank God for the beauty of the world. We thank God that it is good
to be alive. We thank God for the joy that joins us to Thy world in
gladness, and makes it seem to be the open book of Thy graciousness and
tenderness and compassion. We thank Thee also for the ministry of those
days that were not bright, but that were full of comfort, even in their
darkness, into which God came shrouded, only to reveal Himself more
clearly as the light. We thank Thee for the intervening by the hand of
love and tenderness that is human, so that our best nature was called
out for love's sake, and all the lower forces of our lives led in the
leash of that sweet attraction. We thank God for everything for which
our life is better, and pray Thee to help us to use Thy mercies to turn
them into strength, not the strength of praise alone, but the strength
of service also. Amen.
THOMAS R. SLICER.
June 13
_A creed is a rod,
And a crown is of night;
But this thing is God,
To be man with thy might,
To grow straight in the strength of thy spirit, and live out thy life
as the light._
ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE.
_Life is fuller and sweeter for every fulness and sweetness that we
take knowledge of. And to him that hath, cannot help being given
from everything._
MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
Infinite Love and Beauty, who stirrest in the tiniest seed that breaks
its earthly shell to greet the light and warmth of thy beneficence and
round its life in blade and flower and ripened fruit,--awake in us, we
pray, that we may burst the casements of our dead selves and live to
bear the fruits of completed lives. Be love alone our creed and service
our crown; and in the sweetness and light of these twin ministers draw
Thou us on, until having taken full knowledge of the fulness and
sweetness of our Lord the Christ, we shall have measured in our
spiritual stature, His perfect manliness and strength. Thus shall we
have indeed and to us shall be given from everything. Amen.
ALBERT C. WHITE.
June 14
_He fails who climbs to power and place
Up the pathway of disgrace.
He fails not who makes truth his cause,
Nor bends to win the crowd's applause.
He fails not, he who stakes his all
Upon the right and dares to fall.
What though the living bless or blame,
For him the long success of fame!_
RICHARD WATSON GILDER.
Our Heavenly Father, help us when we fail to see and know the truth and
its blessed influence for good. Help us to combat bravely the evil in
the world and to look to Thee for encouragement and success. Help us, if
we fail, to regain our footing and to reach the higher because of the
effort which Thy love prompts. We gratefully accept the power which Thy
wisdom gives and thank Thee for the opportunity to use its strength. Be
Thou our guide and we shall fear no failure, nor overestimate the worth
of success. So shall we "rejoice in the Lord always,"--in failure
because of Thy help and in success because of Thine approval. In the
name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Redeemer. Amen.
WILLIAM E. GIBBS.
June 15
_A singer sang a song of tears,
And the great world heard and wept
For the song of the sorrows of fleeting years,
And the hopes which the dead past kept:
And souls in anguish their burdens bore,
And the world was sadder than ever before._
_A singer sang a song of cheer,
And the great world listened and smiled,
For he sang of the love of a Father dear
And the trust of a little child;
And souls that before had forgotten to pray,
Looked up and went singing along the way._
EMMA C. DOWD.
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, our trust is evermore in Thee, and we
would keep that trust as a song within our hearts, which may cheer and
bless and strengthen us. When the night is dark and the day is dreary
may that song be with us, and when cares oppress and sorrows meet us,
may our prayers still rise to Thee, for Thou art the God of our lives.
Let not the day's discouragements depress us, nor its failures find us
weak or helpless, nor its trials leave a stain upon our souls. But
because we have Thy song of love within our hearts may we march to
heavenly music, and ever go upon our way rejoicing. Amen.
PAUL REVERE FROTHINGHAM.
June 16
_It is only the sincerity of human feeling that abides. As for a
thought, we know not, it may be deceptive; but the love, wherewith
we have loved it, will surely return to our soul; nor can a single
drop of its clearness or strength be abstracted by error. Of that
perfect ideal that each of us strives to build up in himself, the
sum total of all our thoughts will help only to model the outline;
but the elements that go to construct it, and keep it alive, are
the purified passion, unselfishness, loyalty, wherein these
thoughts have had being._
MAETERLINCK.
O God, our Heavenly Father, help us to take up the cares of this day
with an unselfish heart, and in loyalty to what is right and good. Keep
us in right relation to those with whom our lot is cast, in sympathy
with the unanxious joy of the world and with the deeper life which is
its source. We desire to enter into the thought and the love of the most
hopeful souls, that, in all the needful pauses of the day, we may find
cheer, incentive, and the ampler rest: through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
CHARLES H. LEONARD.
June 17
_"Does the road wind up-hill all the way?"
"Yes, to the very end!"
"Will the day's journey take the whole long day?"
"From morn to night, my friend!"_
_"But is there for the night a resting-place?"
"A roof for all when the dark hours begin."
"May not the darkness hide it from my face?"
"You cannot miss that inn."_
_"Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?"
"Those who have gone before."
"Then must I knock or call when just in sight?"
"They will not keep you standing at that door."_
_"Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?"
"Of labor you shall find the sum."
"Will there be beds for me and all who seek?"
"Yea,--beds for all who come!"_
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI.
Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this new day. May it be an open
door to faithful service. Open our eyes that we may see all vexations,
distresses, and toil as angels in disguise sent to strengthen and fulfil
us, to prepare us for larger blessings at our journey's end. As the blue
sky of Thy loving kindness is broader and more enduring than the clouds
that sometimes hide it, so teach us to trust Thine unfailing love that
overarches and outlasts all weariness and pain. When life and strength
fail us here, may we find them transformed and glorious in the city of
God hereafter. Be Thou our shield and our reward now and forever. Amen.
JOHN M. WILSON.
June 18
_Those homelier wildflowers, which we call weeds; yellow japanned
buttercups and star-disked dandelions, lying in the grass, like
sparks that have leaped from the kindling sun of summer; the
profuse daisy-like flower which whitens the fields, to the great
disgust of liberal shepherds, yet seems fair to loving eyes, with
its button-like mound of gold set round with milk-white rays; the
tall-stemmed succory, setting its pale blue flowers aflame one
after another; the red and white clovers; the broad, flat leaves of
the plantain,--"the white man's foot," as the Indians called
it;--those common growths which fling themselves to be crushed
under our feet and our wheels, making themselves so cheap in this
perpetual martyrdom that we forget, each of them is a ray of the
divine beauty._
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
Our Heavenly Father, however poor and mean and commonplace our lives may
seem to be, in our better moments we think of ourselves as Thy children.
We may have failed sometimes but we shall not utterly fail. In Thy
sight, nothing is common or worthless. No life shall be cast as rubbish
to the void. However commonplace our tasks may seem, let us feel
ourselves in partnership with God, and go forth to the duties of the day
with high hope and sense of dignity. So shalt Thou make even our little
lives of some real service to the world. We pray to Thee in the spirit
of Him, who though the humblest of all, was yet Master of all. Amen.
GEORGE L. PERIN.
June 19
_There's a real grace of character in forgetting the things which
disturb the harmony of life._
HAMILTON W. MABIE.
Touch your lips with gladness and go singing on your way,
Smiles will strangely lighten every duty;
Just a little word of cheer may span a sky of gray
With hope's own heaven-tinted bow of beauty.
Wear a pleasant face wherein shall shine a joyful heart,
As shines the sun, the happy fields adorning;
To every care-beclouded life some ray of light impart,
And touch your lips with gladness every morning.
NIXON WATERMAN.
O Thou who art from everlasting to everlasting, Our God and Father, we
flee unto Thee as the One who is able to save us from all foes within
and without. We confess our weakness and our many grievous faults, and
beseech Thee to touch us by Thy Spirit, that with penitent and lowly
hearts we may seek Thee as our everlasting Friend and Helper. Be patient
yet a while with our shortcomings and frowardness. Suffer us yet a
little that Thine infinite grace and compassion may arouse us from our
spiritual slumber unto the glorious life of obedience and love. In this
new day we would be made to feel Thy presence and the light and joy and
peace, which Thou dost promise to all who diligently seek Thee through
Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
CLARENCE E. RICE.
June 20
_Now is the high tide of the year,
And whatever of life hath ebbed away
Comes flooding back with a ripply cheer,
Into every bare inlet and creek and bay;
Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it,
We are happy now because God wills it._
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! early in the morning we approach
unto Thee. The whole round of creation is burdened with the exuberance
of Thy life, and everywhere is hallowed ground. We come with unshod
feet. The sun, mighty minister of Thy great goodness, flooding the world
with light and piercing all things with his fiery arrows, calls back to
life the sleeping earth, and assures us that we are partakers of Thy
light and Thy love and Thy life. O most glorious God! may these Thy
mercies, fresh every morning, be with us through the day to strengthen
us to do Thy will, we ask in the name of Him who came that we may have
life and have it abundantly. Amen.
FRANK W. COLLIER.
June 21