Our Master

Immortal Love, forever full,
   Forever flowing free,
Forever shared, forever whole,
   A never-ebbing sea!

Our outward lips confess the Name
   All other names above;
Love only knoweth whence it came,
   And comprehendeth love.

We may not climb the heavenly steeps
   To bring the Lord Christ down:
In vain we search the lowest deeps,
   For Him no depths can drown.

But warm, sweet, tender, even yet
   A present help is He;
And faith has still its Olivet,
   And love its Galilee.

The healing of His seamless dress
   Is by our beds of pain;
We touch Him in life's throng and press,
   And we are whole again.

Through Him the first fond prayers are said
   Our lips of childhood frame,
The last low whispers of our dead
   Are burdened with His name.

O Lord and Master of us all!
   Whate'er our name or sign,
We own Thy sway, we hear Thy call,
   We test our lives by Thine.

              ~ John Greenleaf Whittier

Things That Never Die

The pure, the bright, the beautiful
   That stirred our hearts in youth,
The impulses to wordless prayer,
   The streams of love and truth,
The longing after something lost,
   The spirit's yearning cry,
The striving after better hopes--
   These things can never die.

The timid hand stretched forth to aid
   A brother in his need;
A kindly word in grief's dark hour
   That proves a friend indeed;
The plea for mercy softly breathed,
   When justice threatens high,
The sorrow of a contrite heart--
   These things shall never die.

Let nothing pass, for every hand
   Must find some work to do,
Lose not a chance to waken love--
   Be firm and just and true.
So shall a light that cannot fade
   Beam on thee from on high,
And angel voices say to thee--
   "These things shall never die."

                  ~ Charles Dickens

Better,Wiser and Happier

Do you wish the world were better?
   Let me tell you what to do;
Set a watch upon your actions,
   Keep them always straight and true;
Rid your mind of selfish motives;
   Let your thoughts be clean and high,
You can make a little Eden
   Of the space you occupy.

Do you wish the world were wiser?
   Well, suppose you make a start,
By accumulating wisdom
   In the scrapbook of your heart;
Do not waste one page on folly;
   Live to learn, and learn to live.
If you want to give men knowledge
   You must get it, ere you give.

Do you wish the world were happy?
   Then remember day by day
Just to scatter seeds of kindness
   As you pass along the way;
For the pleasures of the many
   May be ofttimes traced to one,
As the hand that plants an acorn
   Shelters armies from the sun.

               ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

God Is Never Beyond Our Reach

No one ever sought the Father
And found He was not there,
And no burden is too heavy
To be lightened by a prayer,
No problem is too intricate
And no sorrow that we face
Is too deep and devastating
To be softened by His grace,
No trials and tribulations
Are beyond what we can bear
If we share them with our Father
As we talk to Him in prayer--
And men of every color,
Every race and every creed
Have but to seek the Father
In their deepest hour of need--
God asks for no credentials,
He accepts us with our flaws,
He is kind and understanding
And He welcomes us because
We are His erring children
And He loves us everyone,
And He freely and completely
Forgives all that we have done,
Asking only if we're ready
To follow where He leads--
Content that in His wisdom
He will answer all our needs.

         ~ Helen Steiner Rice

Instrument of Peace

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace,
   Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
   Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
   Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not
   Seek to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
   To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive,
   It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal
   life.
                     ~ St. Francis of Assisi

Be Strong

Be strong!
We are not here to play,
   to dream, to drift;
We have hard work to do,
   and loads to lift;
Shun not the struggle--face it;
   'tis God's gift.

Be strong!
Say not, "The days are evil.
   Who's to blame?"
And fold the hands and acquiesce--
   oh shame!
Stand up, speak out, and bravely,
   in God's name.

Be strong!
It matters not how deep intrenched
   the wrong,
How hard the battle goes,
   the day how long;
Faint not--fight on! Tomorrow
   comes the song.

      ~ Maltbie Davenport Babcock

Life's Lessons

I learn, as the years roll onward
   And leave the past behind,
That much I had counted sorrow
   But proves that God is kind;
That many a flower I had longed for
   Had hidden a thorn of pain,
And many a rugged bypath
   Led to fields of ripened grain.

The clouds that cover the sunshine
   They can not banish the sun;
And the earth shines out the brighter
   When the weary rain is done.
We must stand in the deepest shadow
   To see the clearest light;
And often thro' wrong's own darkness
   Comes the very strength of light.

The sweetest rest is at even,
   After a wearisome day,
When the heavy burden of labor
   Has born from our hearts away;
And those who have never known sorrow
   Can not know the infinite peace
That falls on the troubled spirit
   When it sees at last release.

We must live thro' the dreary winter
   If we would value the spring;
And the woods must be cold and silent
   Before the robins sing.
The flowers must be buried in darkness
   Before they can bud and bloom,
And the sweetest, warmest sunshine
   Comes after the storm and gloom.

                     ~ John Henry Newman