O Lord, who dost bountifully provide for us the necessities and comforts of life, and makest us glad in the enjoyment of the same; grant, we beseech Thee, that we may so use these, Thy gifts, that in all our blessings we find Thee to be the source and author of all our happiness—of our health and prosperity, of our joys and hopes, and of the holy relations of friends and family; lest, resting content in that which is less, we fail to attain to that which is greatest—truly to know Thee and to love Thee, which is the very end of our being and the consummation of all bliss; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
November 12
I have seen
A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract
Of inland ground, applying to his ear
The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell;
To which, in silence hushed, his very soul
Listened intensely; and his countenance soon
Brightened with joy; for from within were heard
Murmurings, whereby the monitor expressed
Mysterious union with its native sea:
Even such a shell the universe itself
Is to the ear of Faith; and there are times,
I doubt not, when to you it doth impart
Authentic tidings of invisible things;
Of ebb and flow, and ever-during power;
And central peace, subsisting at the heart
Of endless agitation.
William Wordsworth.
Father of Lights, with whom can be no variation or shadow that is cast by turning, give to me the joy of the love that endures as seeing Him who is invisible; that where Thy speaking voice is, there may be my listening ear; that above the waste and clamor of the tasks that exhaust me in bodily strength, there may be supplied a power of will to do the right and a fellowship with all righteous men everywhere. Help me to remember that Life consists not in the abundance of the things I possess. Let my faith see through doubt, endure through temptation and privation, and cleave steadfastly to God, remembering that Love believing is Love triumphing. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
November 13
When Jeremy Taylor had lost all—when his house had been plundered and his family driven out of doors, and all his worldly estate had been sequestered—he could still write thus: "I am fallen into the hands of publicans and sequesterers, and they have taken all from me. What now? Let me look about me. They have left me the sun and moon, a loving wife and many friends to pity me, and some to relieve me; and I can still discourse, and, unless I list, they have not taken away my merry countenance and my cheerful spirit and a good conscience; they have still left me the providence of God, and all the promises of the Gospel, and my religion, and my hopes of heaven, and my charity to them, too; and still I sleep and digest, I eat and drink, I read and meditate—and he that hath so many causes of joy and so great, is very much in love with sorrow and peevishness, who leaves all these pleasures, and chooses to sit down upon his little handful of thorns."
Samuel Smiles.