Seasons of the Heart

The heart has many seasons,
Just as this good old earth,
And they all combine together,
To comprise what we are worth.
There is a childhood innocence,
In which we dream and play,
There is a time for growing up,
And making our own way.

There is a time for keeping,
And a time for letting go,
A time for moving swiftly,
and a time for walking slow.
There is a time for learning,
And a time for teaching, too,
and there is time for resting,
When all the chores are through.

We all know joy and sorrow,
'Tis written in the plan,
But Heaven waits beyond life's gates,
For every earnest man.
Each life has many pictures,
And all a work of art,
But what a silver symphony,
. . . The seasons of the heart.

                   ~ Grace E. Easley

The Larger Prayer

At first I prayed for Light:
   Could I but see the way,
How gladly, swiftly would I walk
   To everlasting day!

And next I prayed for Strength:
   That I might tread the road
With firm, unfaltering feet, and win
   The heaven's serene abode.

And then I asked for Faith:
   Could I but trust my God,
I'd live enfolded in His peace,
   Though foes were all abroad.

But now I pray for Love:
   Deep love to God and man,
A living love that will not fail,
   However dark His plan.

And Light and Strength and Faith
   Are opening everywhere;
God only waited for me, till
   I prayed the larger prayer.

                ~ Edna D. Cheney

A Morning Prayer

Let me today do something that will take
   A little sadness from the world's vast store
And may I be so favored as to make
   Of joy's too scanty sum a little more.

Let me not hurt, by any selfish deed
   Or thoughtless word, the heart of foe or
      friend;
Nor would I pass, unseeing, worthy need,
   Or sin by silence when I should defend.

However meager be my worldly wealth,
   Let me give something that shall aid my
      kind --
A word of courage, or a thought of health
   Dropped as I pass for troubled hearts to
      find.

Let me tonight look back across the span
   'Twixt dawn and dark, and to my
      conscience say --
Because of some good act to beast or man --
   "The world is better that I lived today."

                        ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

This Life of Mine

This life of mine can nothing be
If I don't give it, Lord, to Thee;
For only Thou canst see ahead
How rough the way that I must tread.

And, only Thou new life can give
When I have lost the will to live;
When hope has died and dreams have fled,
When o'er the wreck my tears are shed.

Oh, take it, Lord, this life of mine,
And fill it with Thy love divine;
For only Thou dost know the way
That leads me to eternal day!

                       ~ Vera J. Davis

When Evening Comes

Evening is a time to think
   and cast your cares aside;
A time to pray and meditate,
   and in the Lord, confide.

Evening is a time to read,
   write letters to a friend;
A time to sit with family,
   to visit, sew, or mend.

A time to ponder in your mind,
   and think your own thoughts
      through;
A time to cuddle little ones,
   and them, to cuddle you.

Evening is a time to dream,
   and sleep in Holy care,
And trust that God,
      is working nights
   to answer every prayer.

        ~ Roxie Lusk Smith

In the Quiet of the Morning

In the quiet of the morning,
   Oh, how sweet it is to come
Just to talk a bit with Jesus
   Ere the crowding duties come.

Just to kneel there for a moment
   With your head upon His breast,
All your problems laid before Him,
   Every human need confessed.

Oh, the loving strength that surges
   From His heart to yours all day;
Like a bright and shining armour,
   Just because you knelt to pray!

     ~ Alice Hansche Mortenson

Respite

Just beyond the rapids
And then beyond the falls,
Lies a pool of cool, calm water --
Still
Smooth
Tranquil . . .

So it is with life --

Just beyond the crisis
And then beyond the chaos,
Comes an interlude of cool, calm rest --
Peaceful
Soothing
Blessed by God.

        ~ Nancy Neff Dostie