Our Father, may we begin this day with a song in our hearts,—a song as rich and full and free as the bird sings at the earliest dawning of the sun's light,—a song so attuned with infinite life and hope and love that it must be sung. Thou giver of abundance unto the rich and poor alike, help our souls to mount unto the highest reaches of living thoughts and generous deeds, that we may give unto others as Thou givest. Unfettered by unholy passions and freed from the spirit of greed, may we feel the unity of the bonds of a universal brotherhood, and be just and true, honest, and helpful in all our dealings with all men this day. Amen.
April 18
O spring, of hope and love and youth and gladness
Wing-winged emblem! Brightest, best and fairest!
Whence comest thou when with dark Winter's sadness
The tears that fade in sunny smiles thou sharest?
Sister of Joy! thou art the child who wearest
Thy mother's dying smile, tender and sweet:
Thy mother Autumn, for whose grave thou bearest
Fresh flowers, and beams like flowers,
Disturbing not the leaves which are her winding-sheet.
Shelley.
God unchanging, and still the creator of the seasons, we look up to Thee, as the springtide works out the miracle of the resurrection from the sleeping forms of the past season, in confidence and in trust that ever Thou wilt bless us with a nobler, holier, sweeter, more wholesome life, as the seasons come and go. The resources of trusting hearts are always reinforced and reinvigorated by contact with Thy life, Thy power, Thy goodness and Thy love. Out of the winter of our discontent, we enter the springtime of love, that leads us forward in confidence through the glad summer of growth to the soul's fruition and the place of rest and peace in our Father's Home beneath Thine everlasting Love. Amen.
April 19
One sound always comes to the ear that is open; it is the steady drum-beat of Duty. No music in it, perhaps,—only a dry rub-a-dub. Ah, but that steady beat marks the time for the whole orchestra of earth and heaven! It says to you: "Do your work,—do the duty nearest you!" Keep step to that drum-beat, and the dullest march is taking you home.
George S. Merriam.