Splendors beyond what gorgeous Summer knows;
Or Autumn with his many fruits, and woods
All flushed with many hues, come when the rains
Have glazed the snow and clothed the trees with ice,
The incrusted surface shall upbear thy steps,
And the broad arching portals of the grove
Welcome thy entering._
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.
Our Father, we know that Thou wilt commune with us if only we truly seek
Thee; Thou art the Infinite Consciousness and Thou dost include within
Thyself our finite consciousness. We have our life in Thy life. This
morning we would be mindful of Thy presence. The northern groves with
snow-laden, bended branches bid us enter and worship. Thou dost send
forth the rays of Thy sun and touch them aglow with the reflected beauty
of the snow-flake. Thou hast also created us. The flake reflects the
sun, and may we reflect Thee, through living righteously. Help us to do
the right and to forego the wrong. Amen.
FRED ALBAN WEIL.
December 2
_"A commonplace life," we say, and we sigh;
But why should we sigh as we say?
The commonplace sun in the commonplace sky
Makes up the commonplace day.
The moon and the stars are commonplace things,
And the flower that blooms and the bird that sings,
But dark were the world and sad our lot
If the flowers failed and the sun shone not;
And God, who studies each separate soul
Out of commonplace lives makes His beautiful whole._
SUSAN COOLIDGE.
Our Infinite Father, we open our hearts to Thee, for where Thou art
heaven is. As the morning sun gives light and life to Earth, so Thou
givest light and life and joy to us. We say Good-morning to Thee, and as
we listen Thy Good-morning comes to us. As it comes we glow and expand
like the opening flower. May this glowing spirit of love be in all we
say and do and think this day, and still continue through all days to
come. When we are vexed and weary with trials and labor, make us to
remember this morning glow of Thy Love that it may renew rest and peace
within us. Help us, O our Father, to enter the beauty of this day and
this life by claiming our heritage as "children of light" and going
forth to fulfil the common duties of the day as "children of God." Amen.
WALTER DOLE.
December 3
_No matter! so long as the world is the work of eternal goodness,
and so long as conscience has not deceived us. To give happiness
and to do good, there is our only law, our anchor of salvation, our
beacon light, our reason for existing. All religions may crumble
away; so long as this survives we have still an ideal, and life is
worth living. Nothing can lessen the dignity and value of humanity
so long as the religion of love, of unselfishness and devotion
endures; and none can destroy the altars of this faith for us so
long as we feel ourselves still capable of love._
HENRI-FREDERIC AMIEL.
Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for a night of peaceful rest, and we
are glad to begin a new day with full assurance of Thy loving care. We
hope for pleasant ways and large success, but Thy wisdom is better than
our wishes and if it is appointed us to meet difficulties or
temptations, we pray for strength to sustain a manly warfare. We have
faith that whatever our condition Thou wilt still provide a way by which
lofty purpose and resolute endeavor may use the circumstances of our
life for a nearer approach to Thee and for service to our fellowmen. To
this end be then the light of our way and the strength of our life,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
J. SMITH DODGE.
December 4
_He was a friend to man, and lived in a house by the side of the
road._
HOMER.
_There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the peace of their self-content;
There are souls, like stars, that dwell apart,
In a fellow-less firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
Where highways never ran:--
But let me live by the side of the road
And be a friend to man._
_Let me live in a house by the side of the road.
Where the race of men go by--
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban:--
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man._
SAM WALTER FOSS.
Our Father in Heaven, we come with thanksgiving for the light of another
day and all the blessings which it brings from Thee. May the precious
moments before us be filled with activity. Forgive us if we have been
remiss in seizing our opportunities and so lead us this day that if we
shall be called to Thee, the sweet voice of the Master may greet us
with, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren, ye have done it unto Me." In Jesus' name. Amen.
J. E. CHARLTON.
December 5
_One old lady kept a sighing;
Said she wasn't young,
Didn't look as sweet's she used to,
Times were all unstrung;
Troubles doubled aches, and favors
Went a flying past,
Wrinkles stung like thorns, and eyesight
Kept a failing fast._
_One old lady kept a saying
Life was like the spring,
Brighter blossoms always coming,
Birds around to sing;
Troubles came--and went; she let 'em,
Didn't count the throng.
Thanked the Lord 'most every morning
She'd been young so long!_
JESSIE M. SHAW.
Our Heavenly Father, wilt Thou forgive us for the sighs and tears and
frowns and doubts of yesterday? Especially wilt Thou forgive us for all
that was little and petty and mean? May we begin again today with larger
vision, higher hope and nobler ambition. May there be no sighs for lost
beauty, no grief over faded youth and no lamentation over lost fortune.
Thankful and glad for what we have, may we find our joy in using it for
some high end. So may we conserve the youth of the heart and the light
of the soul. Amen.
GEORGE L. PERIN.
December 6
_There is never a sky of winter
To the heart that sings alway;
Never a night but hath stars to light,
And dreams of a rosy day._
_The world is ever a garden
Red with the bloom of May;
And never a stormy morning
To the heart that sings alway!_
FRANK L. STANTON.
O Thou who art the Love, the Light, and the Life in whom is no discord,
no darkness, no disease nor death; but who art ever radiating sympathy,
vision and health; we give Thee hearty thanks for the consciousness of
Thy abiding presence when we possess a humble and contrite spirit. May
we ever remember that nothing but our own selfishness, pride, and
forgetfulness can break this constant communion with Thee. Open our
hearts just now for the inflow of the divine Love in order that we may
pass it on to others today. Open our eyes today that we may see Thee
everywhere striving against selfishness in the lives of all men. Fill us
with Thy Life today in order that there may go out to others a heavenly
harmony, a song, a symphony, that will dispel discord, darkness and
disease; that will overcome evil with good. Amen.
E. J. HELMS.
December 7
_As the bird trims her to the gale,
I trim myself to the storm of time,
I man the rudder, reef the sail,
Obey the voice at eve obeyed at prime;
"Lowly faithful, banish fear,
Right onward drive unharmed;
The port, well worth the cruise, is near,
And every wave is charmed."_
RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
Heavenly Father, keep our faces in the light and upward. Make us
courageous in the storm. Help us to consecrate all our powers against
the contrary winds and listen for the loving voice of Him who walks the
rough waves and comes toward our frail barks. May we never be afraid;
may we know peace and rest and trust. O Saviour, help us to know the
reality of Thy love and friendship, and hear Thee say in the darkest
hour, "All is well." May no storm be too severe, no burden too heavy, no
task too hard. So let us believe and live. Amen.
CORTLAND MYERS.
December 8
_Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee,
Corruption wins not more than honesty.
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not:
Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's,
Thy God's, and truth's; then if thou fall'st, O Cromwell,
Thou fall'st a blessed martyr!_
SHAKESPEARE.
Father Almighty, we do trust in Thee, and we ask Thee for everything.
Thou art pleased to give us everything. Thou dost give us the light by
which we see. Thou dost give us this air which we breathe and with which
we speak. Best of all, Thou hast shown us that we are one family of Thy
children, alive in Thy life and strong in Thy strength. Thou dost give
us the water that we drink and the food that we eat. Everything is Thine
while it is ours. Now, Father, we are here to consecrate these gifts to
Thy service, to come and go indeed as Thy children; when we speak, to
speak the word that Thou shalt teach; when we act, to do the thing that
Thou wouldst. Moreover, inspire us with Thine holy spirit, that we may
so come and go in our Father's service, and for the coming of Thy
kingdom in this world, that all men may be one, and may bear one
another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Amen.
EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
December 9
_Each soul, alone unto herself, must bear
The heartache out of which man wins despair
Or hope according to his faculty.
Nathless one thing is certain; who hath known
Truth, beauty, goodness, shining in their sphere,
Shall not be lost through any lesser lure.
On black tempestuous waves he may be thrown;
Yet to the right port shall he surely steer,
And God Himself shall make his doing pure._
JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS.
O God, with the dawn we would lift our grateful hearts to Thee! We know
not what Thou hast in store for us this new day, but we rejoice that we
are in Thy thought, and that we cannot pass beyond the reach of Thy
love. Helpless and weak, we pray for courage to be undaunted by the
uncertainties of life, and that we may meet all its duties with a firm
and tranquil mind. Grant that we may be helpful to all with whom we come
in contact and forbid that we should judge others hastily or
uncharitably. May our minds and hearts be open to the truth, that we may
know and do Thy gracious will. Guided and guarded by Thee, may the day
be full of peace, purity and power. Amen.
GEORGE M. HOWE.
December 10
_There was never a song that was sung by thee,
But a sweeter one was meant to be.
There was never a deed that was grandly done,
But a greater was meant by some earnest one.
For the sweetest voice can never impart
The song that trembles within the heart._
_And the brain and the hand can never quite do
The thing that the soul has fondly in view.
And hence are the tears and the burdens of pain,
For the shining goals are never to gain
But enough that a God can hear and see
The song and the deed that were meant to be._
BENJAMIN R. BULKELEY.
Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who hast illumined the morning with
the brightness of Thy life, we rejoice in the potency of the influence
that brings us into communion with Thee. For the blessed revelation of
Thyself, for life and all things that nourish it, for the earth and the
fulness thereof, for daily comforts and mercies and for the Light that
lighteth every man who cometh into the world, we give Thee thanks. We
thank Thee too for the songs that we have sung and for the better songs
that are in our hearts. We thank Thee for every noble deed and also for
the dreams of nobler deeds that men have cherished. O Lord, bless our
work and fill us with aspiration for nobler service. Bless the poor, the
sick, and those that mourn. Hear this our prayer and answer our petition
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
FRANK D. SARGENT.
December 11
_Love the spot where you are, and the friends God has given you and
be sure to expect everything good of them._
JOHN ALBEE.
_When do we lift each other up? Must we gain a height first or can
we reach up our feebleness together to the Hands that do offer us a
mighty help from on high? Near doing, and near living, and near
loving; these life-particles make the great heaven, as the little
polarized atoms of light, all magnetized one way, make the great
blue in which the stars burn forever._
MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
No discontent could harass us if we had a deeper faith in Thee and a
broader love for those about us. We praise Thee, therefore, that we may
be rooted and grounded in Christ. And that our little lives may glorify
Him by bringing forth abundant fruit. Thou dost give us the holy
privilege of being co-laborers with Thee in the salvation of needy
humanity. Around us are the countless opportunities for ennobling and
gladdening the lives of those whose courage burns low, or who have never
known the transforming companionship of Christ. We would not forget that
we are debtors to Thee and to that great Host whose love and service has
inspired us. May we be not selfish takers only, but generous givers. May
there be less gloom, fewer shackles, less guilt in the world because we
are mastered by the spirit of Christ. Amen.
PHILIP L. FRICK.
December 12
_Have you learned lessons only of those who admired you, and were
tender with you, and stood aside for you?_
_Have you not learned great lessons from those who reject you, and
brace themselves against you? or who treat you with contempt, or
dispute the passage with you?_
WALT WHITMAN.
Help us, O God, always to be hopeful; teach us what it means to hope in
Thee, and may we experience the truth of the promise which says: "He
will strengthen your heart that hopes in Him;" but help us not to
indulge in too fond hopes nor to be too easily elated by future dreams.
May we see life clearly as it is and be ready to accept courageously
whatsoever Thou sendest us. Help us to accept all our joys as Thy
blessings; all our duties as Thy commands, and our sorrows as of Thine
appointment, and help us to believe that Thou wilt turn even that which
seems to harm us, into everlasting good and everlasting joy. Amen.
JOHN F. MEYER.
December 13
_Life should be a giving birth to the soul, the development of a
higher mode of reality. The animal must be humanized: flesh must be
made spirit; physiological activity must be transmuted into
intellect and conscience, into reason, justice, and generosity, as
the torch is transmuted into light and warmth. The blind, greedy,
selfish nature of man must put on beauty and nobleness. This
heavenly alchemy is what justifies our presence on the earth; it is
our mission and our glory._
HENRI-FREDERIC AMIEL.
Our Father, this world is Thy world, and this day is Thy renewed gift of
opportunity to learn life's lesson more perfectly. We need clearer
insight into Thy designs, that we may loathe every form of selfishness,
and love devotion. Give us to know the Christ more intimately, and in
the strength of His apprehended presence help us to employ this day in
practising the holy principles He taught. Assist us this morning to
have, and throughout this day to keep, such an attitude of glad
co-operation with Him, that work shall be shot through and through with
joy in anticipation of its glorious result. So may this day be to us a
time of real soul expansion; a wooing and a winning of that which is
highest, even a purer, noble character. Amen.
J. EDWIN LACOUNT.
December 14
_'Tis the mind that makes the body rich,
And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,
So honor peereth in the meanest habit.
What, is the jay more precious than the lark,
Because his feathers are more beautiful?
Or is the adder better than the eel,
Because his painted skin contents the eye?_
SHAKESPEARE.
In this world of mingled good and evil, amid the ceaseless struggle of
the better with the worse, grant unto us our Father, the cheerful
assurance that we are enlisted in the service of the good, bound for the
better, and destined for the best. Reveal to us each day some task that
we can do for Thee, some chance to bear with Christ the burden of
another, some call to take the side of the right against the wrong. Help
us to conquer hardship by patience, despair by hope, fear by courage,
and hate by love; and may we find the peace, the power, the glory of Thy
perfect will and Thy great kingdom reflected and reproduced in our
hearts and lives. Amen.
WILLIAM DEWITT HYDE.
December 15
_Call him not old, whose visionary brain
Holds o'er the past its undivided reign,
For him in vain the envious seasons roll
Who bears eternal summer in his soul.
If yet the minstrel's song, the poet's lay,
Spring with her birds, or children at their play,
Or maiden's smile, or heavenly dream of art,
Stir the few life-drops creeping round his heart,
Turn to the record where his years are told,--
Count his gray hairs,--they cannot make him old!_
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
Thou infinite Spirit of Life, in Thy sight, there is no old age. The
step may grow feeble, the hair may whiten, the eye may grow dim, but
each human soul is still Thy child. We gather about the tables of earth,
families of children, some older, some younger, but all young in Thy
sight. We pause for a moment this morning to pray for the spirit of
youth. Let us cherish the power of hoping and of believing. Let us have
that fine quality of the child life which keeps it facing the future
with glad expectancy. Let us not give over our toils till we must. Let
us not relinquish our interest in life till the evening shadows fall,
and even at the last, let us lie down like the child who sleeps with his
hand in the hand of his mother. Amen.
GEORGE L. PERIN.
December 16
_O toiling bands of mortals! O unwearied feet, travelling we know
not whither! Soon, soon, it seems to you, you must come forth on
some conspicuous hilltop, and but a little way further, against the
setting sun, descry the spires of El Dorado. Little do ye know your
own blessedness; for to travel hopefully is a better thing than to
arrive, and the true success is to labor._
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
Our Father, we thank Thee for the work that Thou givest us to do; for
its joy, for its zest, even for its very task and weariness. We would
interpret our labor by the highest good it brings us; through our brave
and cheerful doing Thy heaven of peace is found. We thank Thee for our
diviner hopes, and for the Spirit that would complete them. They light
our days with gladness, and set our feet in large places, and though the
higher hill-tops seem far away, yet meeting our duties faithfully, we do
see them, and looking back we find the places of our departure lying far
below. O blessed tasks! O blessed hopes! That lead us ever to our
Father's love. Amen.
ALBERT J. COLEMAN.
December 17
_God speaks to hearts of men in many ways:
Some the red banner of the rising sun,
Spread o'er the snow-clad hills, has taught his praise.
Some the sweet silence when the day is done;
Some, after loveless lives, at length have won
His word in children's hearts and children's gaze;
And some have found him where low rafters ring
To greet the hand that helps, the heart that cheers;
And some in prayer, and some in perfecting
Of watchful toil through unrewarding years;
And some not less are his, who vainly sought
His voice, and with his silence have been taught,--
Who bore his chains who bade them to be bound,
And at the end in finding not have found._
ANONYMOUS.
O God, all voices of the earth are Thine, even when there is no speech
or language, Thy messages have many ways to reach the listening heart.
Give us this day to hear at least some whisper of Thy grace. If it may
be, open our minds and attune our spirits to receive more than we could
hitherto interpret of the assurances sent to us by elevated goodness and
love. So let us be defended this day against wrong, and do our work in
joy and peace through the knowledge that Thou art with us, our friend
and helper even unto the end. Amen.
HOWARD N. BROWN.
December 18
_Did you ever see a schoolboy tumble on the ice without stooping
immediately to re-buckle the strap of his skates? And would not
Ignotus have painted a masterpiece if he could have found good
brushes and a proper canvas? Life's shortcomings would be bitter
indeed if we could not find excuses for them outside of ourselves.
And as for life's successes--well, it is certainly wholesome to
remember how many of them are due to a fortunate position and the
proper tools._
HENRY VAN DYKE.
Our Father, God, help us to begin this new day with the right spirit in
our hearts,--the spirit of love toward Thee and our fellowmen. Help us
to begin the day if possible without mistake. If, in our human weakness
we find that we have not succeeded, that we have erred or gone astray,
help us not to despair, not to be discouraged; help us to know and to
seek and to love the right. Help us never to forget what we owe to Thee,
to our friends, and the beautiful world Thou hast given us. Daily bread
we have, opportunities open, like books on every hand. Greater than all
life's bitter is its sweet. Ever ready is the Master to bless; ever
ready is the spirit to comfort Thy children look up and praise the
Father eternal. Amen.
RANSOM A. GREENE.
December 19
_I love Thee, O Son of Man! for Thy strength and Thy sweetness, for
Thy simplicity, Thy courage, Thine infinite tenderness, for Thy
glance which strengthens and pardons us, quickens us and lifts us
up; for all that Thou hast brought us of consolation, of peace and
of warmth of heart. Abide Thou with us! Teach us to see the divine
spark imprisoned in every stone of the highway._
CHARLES WAGNER.
O Lord, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for all Thy manifold mercies
to us, for all Thy constant care and watchfulness over us from the
beginning of our lives to this day, for the revelations of Thy presence
in the world about us, in the shining sky, in the earth beneath our
feet, and in the faces of our friends. Bless us, O Lord, this day, with
health and strength and a good courage, and grant that we may show our
gratitude for all Thy goodness not only with our lips but in our lives,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
GEORGE HODGES.
December 20
_In every "Oh my Father!"
Slumbers deep a "Here, my child."_
THOLUCK.
_This world, with its wonderful creations, its beauties, and
mysteries may lead a child up to the father's throne, if his heart
and mind are open to it. Fill the heart with goodness and there is
no place for badness. Fill the soul with heaven, and there is no
hell. And this delightful time will come when "God is all and in
all."_
ABBIE E. DANFORTH.
Our Father, who art in heaven; we know that Thou hast been good to us.
We thank Thee for the daily witnesses of Thy love. And we would walk
worthily before Thee. But we are weak. Help us, O Father to see clearly
what Thou would'st have us do! Give us strength. Fill us with Thy
spirit, that all the way we may be pure and patient. Help us to walk
aright. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
CHARLES H. PUFFER.
December 21
_Grand is the seen, the light, to me--grand are the sky and stars,
Grand is the earth, and grand are lasting time and space,
And grand their laws, so multiform, puzzling, evolutionary;
But grander far the unseen soul of me, comprehending, endowing all those,
Lighting the light, the sky and stars, delving the earth, sailing
the sea,
(What were all those, indeed, without thee, unseen soul? of what amount
without Thee?)
More evolutionary, vast, puzzling, O my soul!
More multiform far--more lasting Thou than they._
WALT WHITMAN.
O Thou, our Heavenly Father, in spirit we reach out to Thy great spirit.
Quicken within us visions of what things we may do this day, with Thee
at hand, Thy love abounding. Give us vision that we may rise to the
opportunities of our daily task. Let Thy holy spirit bear witness to the
reality of our dreams and aspirations, that we may look not idly upon
our opportunities, but rather that each new opportunity shall challenge
us to nobler effort. O keep us this day full of faith in ourselves and
Thee, each obedient to our vision, until full purposed, winning Thine
approval, we shall accomplish the thing for which Thou sendest us, and
Thine be the glory. Amen.
JAMES D. TILLINGHAST.
December 22
_I see the wrong that round me lies,
I feel the guilt within,
With groan and travail cries
I hear the world confess its sin._
_Within the maddening maze of things,
And tossed by storm and flood,
To one fixed stake my spirit clings:
I know that God is good._
_I know not where his islands lift
Their fronded palms in air;
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care._
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.