The Optimist's Good Morning Part 21

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 grat.i.tude 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 a.s.sured 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 th.o.r.n.y foes.

Red and reckless,--one poor rose Is sweet enough, G.o.d knows, For the best._

FRANK L. STANTON.

O Lord, our G.o.d, 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d, 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 pa.s.sage of a s.h.i.+p through the sea or a bird through the air is a fit symbol of man's pa.s.sage through this world. I do not think so. A better symbol would be the pa.s.sage 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 a.s.sociation, 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d, 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 n.o.ble and true things, and vindicate himself under G.o.d's heaven, as a G.o.d-made man, that the poorest son of Adam dimly longs. This dim longing for what is n.o.ble 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 bra.s.s and a tinkling cymbal._

THOMAS CARLYLE.

Almighty G.o.d, 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 a.s.surance 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 b.u.t.tercup's glory of gold; Hummed in the b.u.mblebee's gladness, and sung New from each bough where a bird's nest is swung; Breathed from the clover-beds, when the winds pa.s.s; Chirped in small psalms, through the aisles of the gra.s.s._

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 n.o.bler, more unselfish, like unto Christ, we pray, that we may learn how good is life. Amen.

THOMAS EDWARD POTTERTON.

June 12