The Foot-Path To Peace

    To be glad of life because it gives
you the chance to love and to work and
to play and to look up at the stars--
to be satisfied with your possessions
but not contented with yourself until
you have made the best of them--
to despise nothing in the world except
falsehood and meanness, and to fear
nothing except cowardice--
to be governed by your admirations
rather than by your disgusts; to covet
nothing that is your neighbor's except
his kindness of heart and gentleness of
manners--
to think seldom of your enemies, often
of your friends, and every day of Christ;
and to spend as much time as you can,
with body and with spirit, in God's out-
of-doors--
these are little guide-posts on the foot-
path to peace.

   ~ Henry Van Dyke

Address to the Ocean

O, lovely in repose! thy summer form
Is beautiful, and when thy silver waves
Make music in earth's dark and wind-
    ing caves,
I love to wander on thy pebbled beach,
Marking the sunlight at the evening
    hour,
And hearken to the thoughts thy waters
    teach,--
Eternity--Eternity--and Power.

    ~ Barry Cornwall [excerpt]

The Mountains Are A Lonely Folk

The mountains they are silent folk,
    They stand afar--alone;
And the clouds that kiss their brows
      at night
    Hear neither sigh or groan.
Each bears him in his ordered place
    As soldiers do, and bold and high
They fold their forests round their
      feet
    And bolster up the sky.

    ~ Hamlin Garland
 

Peace

With eager heart and will on fire,
I fought to win my great desire
"Peace shall be mine," I said; but life
Grew bitter in the weary strife.

My soul was tired, and my pride
Was wounded deep: to Heaven I cried,
"God grant me peace or I must die;"
The dumb stars glittered no reply.

Broken at last, I bowed my head,
Forgetting all myself, and said,
"Whatever comes, His will be done;"
And in that moment peace was won.

   ~ Henry Van Dyke

Lord of Power and Love

   Lord of Power and Love! I come, trusting in
Thine almighty strength, and Thine infinite
goodness, to beg from Thee what is wanting in
myself; even that grace which shall help me
such to be, and such to do, as Thou wouldst
have me.

   I will trust Thee, in Whom is everlasting
strength. Be Thou my Helper, to carry me on
beyond my own strength, and to make all that
I think, and speak, and do, acceptable in Thy
sight, through Jesus Christ.  Amen.

   ~ F.B. Meyer, Our Daily Walk; Prayer

The Salutation of the Dawn

Listen to the exhortation of the dawn!
Look to this day! For it is life,
    The very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the varieties
And realities of your existence.
    The bliss of growth,
    The glory of action,
    The splendor of beauty,
For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision;
    But today well lived
Makes every yesterday a dream of
    happiness,
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day!
Such is the salutation of the dawn.

       ~ from the Sanskrit

St. Teresa's Book-Mark

Let nothing disturb thee,
Nothing affright thee;
All things are passing;
God never changeth;
Patient endurance
Attaineth to all things;
Who God possesseth
In nothing is wanting;
Alone God sufficeth.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow