Our Heavenly Father, help us through this new day to allow the impulses of our hearts to have fullest play. Help us to help each other, Lord, and of whatever grace or influence we have to bless and uplift our fellowmen to give generously and gladly. Help us scatter sunshine along our pathway, to speak the cheering word to discouraged hearts and to lend the helping hand to feeble or halting ones along the way. May we find our greatest happiness following in the footsteps of our Master, humbly serving our neighbor"s needs, and doing good even at every wayside opportunity. Amen.
JAMES F. ALBION.
March 30
_Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side; Some great cause, G.o.d"s new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight, Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right, And the choice goes by forever "twixt that darkness and that light._
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
Almighty Father, we are before Thee, asking for strength this day, that for today"s duty we may have the help of Thy Infinite wisdom, as we know we have Thy love, Our Father with His Children. Father, help us to look to Thee for strength and wisdom in every moment of doubt. We are not afraid, because we can come to Thee for counsel, and companionship. We can come to Thee for everything, and we find everything if we seek for it with all our heart and soul and strength. So today, Father, be with us to show each one of us here, the youngest or the oldest, the weakest or the strongest, what is the duty next his hand today, that we may enter into that work and go about our Father"s business. Go with us and be with us as with Thine own children. Amen.
EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
March 31
_I long to accomplish great and n.o.ble tasks, but it is my duty and joy to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and n.o.ble._
HELEN KELLER.
_It is a fine notion of life to liken it to the loom. G.o.d puts on the warp in those circ.u.mstances in which we find ourselves, and which we cannot change. The woof is wrought by the shuttle of everyday life. It is made of very homely threads sometimes, common duties, unpromising and unwelcome tasks. But whoever tries to do each day"s work in the spirit of patient loyalty to G.o.d is weaving the texture whose other side is fairer than the one he sees._
ANONYMOUS.
Our Father in heaven, grant that we may be "faithful in that which is least," leaving to Thy will whether we have the opportunity of being "faithful in much." May we understand that the value of our service is not so much in what we do as the spirit in which we do it. Help us to remember that no service is common in Thy sight, if it is done for Thy glory and the betterment of humanity; that in blessing others, we ourselves are blessed; that life is mostly made up of little things, but a character which is perfected by Thy grace and humble service is not a little thing, but a jewel to shine in Thy crown forever. Amen.
E. T. CURNICK.
April 1
_April is here!
There"s a song in the maple, thrilling and new; There"s a flash of wings of heaven"s own hue; There"s a veil of green on the nearer hills; There"s a burst of rapture in woodland rills; There are stars in the meadow dropped here and there; There"s a breath of arbutus in the air; There"s a dash of rain, as if flung in jest; There"s an arch of color spanning the west; April is here!_
EBEN E. REXFORD.
O G.o.d, ever-living and ever-acting, all Thy works praise Thee, and Thy saints bless Thee! We rejoice that Thou art bringing in this new springtime, and art preparing to pour out Thy summer glory and bounty in garden and field and wood, that Thy children may be richly blessed. As Thou art working mightily in nature today so wilt Thou work in us, Thy children, that the blessed fruits of the Spirit may appear in all that we think and do and are? And may the spontaneous spring song of the woods find its counterpart in the perpetual gladness of our souls sunk deep in the love of Christ! Amen.
HENRY IRVING CUSHMAN.
April 2
_The sweetest sound our whole year round "Tis the first robin of the spring!
The song of the full orchard choir, Is not so fine a thing._
EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN.
_The gra.s.s comes, the flower laughs where lately lay the snow, O"er the breezy hill top hoa.r.s.ely calls the crow, By the flowing river the alder catkins swing And the sweet song sparrow cries, "Spring, it is Spring!"_
CELIA THAXTER.
Accept from a heart of grat.i.tude, O G.o.d, thanksgiving and praises for the glad antic.i.p.ation of the coming days of spring. May the awakening of nature, this living garment in which Thou hast robed Thy mysterious loveliness, be to each of Thy children symbol of the new life which comes to those who put their trust in the risen Christ and of the higher life beyond where shadows are no more and light and gladness bless an eternity of joy. O, Thou Father of lights, make every hour of this opening day rich and radiant with Thy effulgent presence through Jesus Christ. Amen.
KERR BOYCE TUPPER.
April 3
_Within my earthly temple there"s a crowd; There"s one of us that"s humble, one that"s proud, There"s one that"s broken-hearted for his sins, There"s one that unrepentant sits and grins; There"s one that loves his neighbor as himself, And one that cares for naught but fame and pelf.
From much corroding care I should be free If I could once determine which is me._
THEODORE MARTIN.
Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for our multiform life. Thou hast made us a little lower than the angels and hast crowned us with glory and honor, yet how little we know ourselves! We go astray; we fall from our high estate; like the moth we flutter around the blaze that burns us. When we would do good, evil is present with us. Yet through all complexity of thought and feeling, of pa.s.sion and appet.i.te, through all our wanderings and all our sins we thank Thee that there shines clearly the light of our own Divinity. We are Thy children. Help us, we pray Thee, to know ourselves at our best. May we not be betrayed in this day"s journey by any siren voice. Let us go forth to the tasks of the day with the consciousness that until the evening shadows fall Thou wilt be with us. Amen.
GEORGE L. PERIN.
April 4
_If we but knew the secret of that power That opes the bud in early days of spring, If we but knew what makes the robin sing His wondrous song just at the matin hour, If we but knew the priceless boon and dower Of human life when man is truly king.
If we but understood the little thing That vexes us just at the present hour, If we but knew--ah, well, "tis vain to sigh And speculate on things beyond our ken!
We know that earth is fair and life is sweet, And something tells us that we cannot die.
And if we live and love the good, ah! then We face to face with truth some day must meet._
CLARENCE HAWKES.
O Lord, we thank Thee for a day so sweet and fair as this, when the trees lift up their hands in a psalm of grat.i.tude to Thee, and every little flower that opens its cup and every wandering bird seem filled by Thy spirit, and grateful to Thee. We thank Thee for all thine handwritings of revelation on the walls of the world, on the heavens above us and the ground beneath, and all the testimonies recorded there of Thy presence, Thy power, Thy justice, and Thy love. Amen.
THEODORE PARKER.
April 5
_Yet we must give the children leave to use Our garden tools, though they spoil tool and plant In learning. So the Master may not scorn Our awkwardness, as with these bungling hands We try to unroot the ill, and plant with good Life"s barren soil: the child is learning use.
Perhaps the angels even are forbid To laugh at us, or may not care to laugh, With kind eyes pitying our little hurts._
EDWARD ROWLAND SILL.
Our Father: Thou knowest how unskilled are these hands and hearts of ours. Thou knowest how much that we do, think, and speak often tends to r.e.t.a.r.d the progress of that which we would promote. Give us, then, this day that wisdom which is from above, that no touch of our hand may mar the beauty of one of Thy creations: no thought nor word wrong one of Thy creatures. Help us to know that we are workers with G.o.d, and in this knowledge may we strive for that excellence of service that shall hasten the coming of that kingdom of peace, joy and righteousness which is life eternal. Amen.
FLORENCE KOLLOCK CROOKER.
April 6
_Plant flowers in the soul"s front yard, Set out new shade and blossom trees, An" let the soul once froze an" hard, Sprout crocuses of new idees._