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 nobler, more unselfish, like unto Christ, we pray, that we may learn how good is life. Amen.
June 12
Methinks I love all common things,
The common air, the common flower,
The dear, kind, common thought that springs
From hearts that have no other dower,
No other wealth, no other power,
Save love; and will not that repay
For all else fortune tears away?
Bryan Waller Procter.
We thank God for the beauty of the world. We thank God that it is good to be alive. We thank God for the joy that joins us to Thy world in gladness, and makes it seem to be the open book of Thy graciousness and tenderness and compassion. We thank Thee also for the ministry of those days that were not bright, but that were full of comfort, even in their darkness, into which God came shrouded, only to reveal Himself more clearly as the light. We thank Thee for the intervening by the hand of love and tenderness that is human, so that our best nature was called out for love's sake, and all the lower forces of our lives led in the leash of that sweet attraction. We thank God for everything for which our life is better, and pray Thee to help us to use Thy mercies to turn them into strength, not the strength of praise alone, but the strength of service also. Amen.
June 13
A creed is a rod,
And a crown is of night;
But this thing is God,
To be man with thy might,
To grow straight in the strength of thy spirit, and live out thy life as the light.