The Optimist's Good Morning Part 15

REIGNOLD K. MARVIN.

April 22

_A little sun, a little rain, A soft wind blowing from the west-- And woods and fields are sweet again And warmth within the mountain's breast._

_So simple is the earth we tread, So quick with love and life her frame, Ten thousand years have dawned and fled.

And still her magic is the same._

STOPFORD A. BROOKE.

Gracious G.o.d, we thank Thee for the gift of sight whereby we behold the marvels of the outer world. But greater is our grat.i.tude for the inner sight, the power to see things as they ought to be. If we but look deep enough, we find Thy central laws ever at the heart of all life. With such insight, apparent confusion shall not bewilder us, life's cares shall not harden us, the world's show cannot dazzle us. Give us, we pray Thee, unceasing ability to wonder and admire, which brings perpetual youth; to hope, to believe, to trust; to rest content in working with Thee, the Eternal One, Lord of the seasons, this is our heart's desire.

Amen.

EDWARD A. HORTON.

April 23

_"What is the secret of your life?" asked Mrs. Browning of Charles Kingsley; "tell me, that I may make mine beautiful too." He replied, "I had a friend." Somewhere in her "Middlemarch," George Eliot puts it well: "There are natures in which, if they love us, we are conscious of having a sort of baptism and consecration; they bind us over to rect.i.tude and purity by their pure belief about us; and our sins become the worst kind of sacrilege, which tears down the invisible altar of trust."_

WILLIAM C. GANNETT.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for all the sweet and sacred influences of life. Music comes with its invisible fingers to weave a magic charm around our souls;--the home with its love is ours,--but we thank Thee to-day for the sweet and saving influence of friends.h.i.+p,--for the counsel and fellows.h.i.+p of those who are wise and good and faithful to us. We would not walk alone--we would find strength in the strength of others, and faith in other's faith. Let us cherish such fellows.h.i.+ps and give back to those, who love us, love again. Amen.

GEORGE L. PERIN.

April 24

_Live in the suns.h.i.+ne, don't live in the gloom, Carry some gladness the world to illume.

Live in the brightness, and take this to heart; The world will seem gayer if you'll do your part.

Live on the housetop, not down in the cell; Open air Christians live n.o.bly and well.

Live where the joys are, and, scorning defeat, Have a good-morrow for all whom you meet.

Live as a victor, and triumphing go Through this queer world, beating down every foe.

Live in the suns.h.i.+ne, G.o.d meant it for you!

Live as the robins, and sing the day through._

MARGARET SANGSTER.

O G.o.d, our heavenly Father, Thou who givest us the suns.h.i.+ne of this new day, Thou who art the G.o.d of life and light, we ask Thy help and Thy strength as we again go out to our separate duties and cares. Help us to fill this day with good deeds, to give cheer and comfort to all we meet.

May our lips be clean. May our hearts be pure. And when the even time comes, may it find us conscious that we have put no cloud upon the day, that we have walked through its hours true disciples of the Master who went about doing good. Amen.

WILLIAM H. MORRISON.

April 25

_To weigh the material in the scales of the personal, and measure life by the standard of love; to prize health as contagious happiness, wealth as potential service, reputation as latent influence, learning for the light it can shed, power for the help it can give, station for the good it can do--to choose in each case what is best on the whole, and accept cheerfully incidental evils involved; to put my whole self into all that I do, and indulge no single desire at the expense of myself as a whole; to crowd out fear by devotion to duty, and see present and future as one; to treat others as I would be treated, and myself as I would my best friend; and to recognize G.o.d's coming kingdom in every inst.i.tution and person that helps men to love one another._

WILLIAM DEWITT HYDE.

For the dear love that kept us through the night, And gave our senses to sleep's gentle sway, For the new miracle of dawning light, Flus.h.i.+ng the east with prophecies of day, We thank Thee, O, our G.o.d!

For the fresh life that through our being flows, With its full tide to strengthen and to bless, For calm, sweet thoughts, upspringing from repose, To bear to Thee their song of thankfulness, We praise Thee, O, our G.o.d!

Thou knowest our needs, Thy fulness will supply Our blindness--let Thy hand still lead us on, Till, visited by the dayspring from on high, Our prayer, one only, "Let Thy will be done,"

We breathe to Thee, O, G.o.d!

Amen.

W. H. BURLEIGH.

April 26

Is it not possible, then, that the hindrances which arrest our progress, and the obstacles that lie broadly in our path, are the divinest agents of help which our Creator could give us? The painful struggles to overcome and remove them develop in us strength, courage, self-reliance, and heroism. They are the hammer and chisel that release the statue from the imprisoning marble,--the plow and the harrow that break up the soil, and mellow it for the reception of the seed that shall yield an abundant harvest. Perfection lies that way.

MARY A. LIVERMORE.

We seek Thy face anew this day, O our Father, and ask Thee that Thou wilt help us to live our lives in constant communion with Thee. Let us see Thee at every turn in the way. Let us find Thy hand in all our duties, all our meditations, all our intercourse with men, all our doings and all our deeds. Help us to make Thee our counsellor every hour. Help us to undertake nought without Thy blessings, to finish nought without Thy benediction. Morning and evening may we turn in prayer to Thy throne. At every meal may we seek Thy grace and give Thee thanks. So may we find the blessing of them that abide in Thy house.

Amen.

J. COLEMAN ADAMS.

April 27

_I think the sweetest thought, the very central idea, of the revelation of the character of G.o.d to me, is this: that He does everything out of His supreme will. There is no one thing that I can say with more heartiness, or that has in it more echoes of joy, than "Thy will be done." If anything works righteousness in me or in you, it is G.o.d. The nature of G.o.d is fruitful in generosity. He is so good that He loves to do good, and loves to make men good, and loves to make them happy by making them good. He loves to be patient with them, and to wait for them, and to pour benevolence upon them, because that is His nature._

HENRY WARD BEECHER.

Father, we thank Thee for the blessing. We know what are our privileges, we know what are our duties, and we are before Thee again to consecrate this day in all its glory and beauty to Thee, the Father of perfect Love. Thou wilt be with us as we strive to be with Thee. Thou wilt make us strong when we are weak. Thou wilt make us see where we are in darkness. Thou wilt send us forth on Thine infinite mission to the world. Boys or girls, men or women, here we are, the living children of the living G.o.d, sent forward by Thee to proclaim it that all may be one as Christ Jesus with Thee and Thou with Him, that this world may be perfected into one, that men may know that Thou art Father and what the Father has given us to do, that each one of us may lift up what has fallen down, that each one may open the eyes that are blind and the ears that are deaf, that each one of us may proclaim the gospel of Thy perfect love. This is our prayer and our hope, in Christ Jesus. Amen.

EDWARD EVERETT HALE.

April 28

_With every rising of the sun, Think of your life as just begun._

_The past has shrived and buried deep, All yesterdays; there let them sleep._

_Nor seek to summon back one ghost Of that innumerable host._

_Concern yourself with but today.

Woo it, and teach it to obey_

_Your will and wish. Since time began Today has been the friend of man;_