Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise His name--I'm fixed upon it--
Name of God's redeeming love.

Hither to Thy love has blest me;
Thou hast bro't me to this place;
And I know Thy hand will bring me
Safely home by Thy good grace.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Bought me with His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.

--Robert Robinson; adapted by
Margaret Clarkson

Time's Hand Is Kind

For those who place their blooms on new-made graves
  And feel that life holds nought but emptiness,
Know that time's hand in kindness ever saves
  The heart from too much sorrow and distress.

Yet all deep wounds heal slowly, it would seem,
  But gradually the yearning pain will cease. . . .
Thus will your grief become a hallowed dream
  And, in its stead, will come a strange new peace.

--Margaret E. Bruner

Is It A Dream?

Is it a dream, and nothing more--this faith
That nerves our brains to thought, our hands to work
For that great day when wars shall cease, and men
Shall live as brothers in a unity
Of love--live in a world made splendid?

Is it a dream--this faith of ours that pleads
And pulses in our hearts, and bids us look,
Through mists of tears and time, to that great day
When wars shall cease upon the earth, and men,
As brothers bound by love of man and God,
Shall build a world as gloriously fair
As sunset skies, or mountains when they catch
The farewell kiss of evening on their heights?

In our hearts this question, in our minds
The haunting echoes of the song of war;
When will the nations cure the itching palm?
Change curse of pride to love of peace?
How long before such peace can pass our lips,
Can claim our minds and drive out all distrust?
When shall our fingers dare to drop the sword,
While with unquestioning eyes we reach two hands
In open comradeship to all the world?

--G.A. Studdert-Kennedy

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the LORD'S house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And peoples shall flow to it.

Many nations shall come and say,
"Come, and let us go up to the mountain
of the LORD, To the house of the God
of Jacob; He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths."
for out of Zion the law shall go forth,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between many peoples,
And rebuke strong nations afar off;
They shall beat their swords into plowhares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.

But everyone shall sit under his vine
and under his fig tree,
And no one shall make them afraid;
For the mouth of the LORD of hosts
has spoken.

For all people walk each in the name
of his god, But we will walk in the name
of the LORD our God Forever and ever.

Micah 4:1-5 NKJV

ALONE

There should be two words, dearest, one made up
  Of all glad sounds that ever breathed on earth;
Of all the ecstasies that fill joy's cup,
  Of love, and peace, and happiness, and mirth.

The other, like a weary, wailing sigh,
  Full of sad tones in longing, hungry strain,
Hopeless, despairing, just a baffled cry
  Of love and loneliness and blank, numb pain.

One I would love--the other I would fear,
  These two words, chosen with consummate art;
One meaning we're alone together, dear,
  The other meaning we're alone--apart.

--Carolyn Wells

AWAY

I weary of these noisy nights,
  Of shallow jest and coarse "good cheer,"
Of jazzy sounds and brilliant lights.
  Come, Love, let us away from here.

Let us lay down this heavy load;
  And, side by side, far from the town,
Drive on some lovely country road;
  And, wondering, watch the sun go down.

What time is left to us, come, Love.
  The woods, the fields, shall make us whole;
The nightly pageantry above
  Our little world, keep sweet our soul.

No peace this city's madness yields--
  A tawdry world in cheap veneer.
Out there the lovely woods and fields.
  Come, Love, let us away from here.

--Max Ehrmann

Be Hopeful

Be hopeful, friend, when clouds are dark and days are
   gloomy, dreary,
Be hopeful even when the heart is sick and sad and weary.
Be hopeful when it seems your plans are all opposed and
   thwarted;
Go not upon life's battlefield despondent and fainthearted.
And, friend, be hopeful of yourself. Do bygone follies haunt
   you?
Forget them and begin afresh. And let no hindrance daunt
   you.
Though unimportant your career may seem as you begin it,
Press on, for victory's ahead. Be hopeful, friend, and win it.

--Strickland Gillilan

The Greater Gift

It was a dismal day when chilling rain
Like icy tears coursed down the window pane,
The clouds were dark and I was hedged about
With darker moods, but these were put to rout,
When to my ears there came a tapping sound,
So low at first as to be almost drowned
By other noises--then it grew more clear,
Until I knew some cherished friend was near;
And opening the door I heard your voice,
Soft-cadenced, kind, that made my heart rejoice;
You came to me because you sensed my need
Of comradeship, as if to intercede
With something of your spirit as a shield,
And yet you bore a gift--I saw revealed
A deeper motive . . . did you not foresee
That I had need of faith, serenity?
Two gifts you left, one was a healing token,
Yet of this greater gift no word was spoken.

--Margaret E. Bruner