October 23
Life has a thousand pages—love and scorn,
Hope and adventure, poverty and sin,
Despair and glory, loneliness forlorn,
Age, sorrow, exile, all are writ therein—;
And on each page, however stern or sad,
Are words which gleam upon the crabbed scroll,
Revealing words, that make our spirits glad,
And well are worth the study of the soul.
We may not lightly shrink from any leaf,
For on it may be writ the word we need.
God turns the page—whatever joy or grief
He opens for us, let us wisely read.
Priscilla Leonard.
Fill our souls with Thy light, O God, that we may ever hope. Give us the poise of endless progress. Make our souls free and joyous as the bird's wing. Give us the courage of our convictions in all places, under all conditions. Make us brave. Take away all forms of fear, whether of man, of nature, or of Thee, and make us feel that each is our mighty friend, but Thou supreme over all, faithful each moment to our being, in ten thousand sweet, true, tender, life-giving, life-sustaining ministries. Teach us to look for Thee everywhere, and to see Thy order, and Thy beauty, facing all things Heavenward. May our ideals be perfect holiness, perfect strength, perfect love, perfect service. Make our faith great in the higher estate, where our faculties, only dawning here, shall rise in a glorious morning of the soul. Amen.
October 24
Suppose a kindly word of mine
Could lift the clouds and bring sunshine;
Am I my brother's keeper?
Suppose the weary worker toils,
For scanty pittance delves and moils;
Am I my brother's keeper?
Suppose in penury and fear
My neighbor see the wolf draw near;
Am I my brother's keeper?
* * * * *
Perhaps—who knows?—perhaps I'm not!
Self-centred soul! hast thou forgot
The marvel of our common lot,
The mystic tie that binds us all
Who dwell on this terrestrial ball,
Stupendous hope of time and song,
The bourne for which the ages long?
How hard our hearts must seem to Thee,
Exhaustless Fount of Charity!
Henry Nehemiah Dodge.
We thank Thee, our Father, for the light of a new day and for its opportunities of service for Thee and Thy great Cause. We rejoice that Thou dost not only set duty clearly before us, but also dost grant power to perform it. May we realize not only that we are "our brother's keeper," and that our lives are helpful or harmful every day, but may we be increasingly grateful that we may every day by Thy grace be fellow-helpers and workers together with God. Amen.