Leaves of Life Part 45

Norman Macleod born 1812.

Certainly, let the board be spread and let the bed be dressed for the traveler; but let not the emphasis of hospitality lie in these things. Honor to the house where they are simple to the verge of hards.h.i.+p, so that there the intellect is awake and reads the law of the universe, the soul wors.h.i.+ps truth and love, honor and courtesy flow into all deeds.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Kind actions, and good wishes, and pure thoughts No mystery is here: Here is no boon For high--yet not for low: The smoke ascends To heaven as lightly from the cottage hearth As from the haughtiest palace.

--William Wordsworth.

Given to hospitality.

--Romans 12. 13.

Gracious Father, I beseech thee to give me wisdom for kind thoughts and deeds. Teach me true hospitality, that I may be gracious in my own home and appreciative in the home of others. May I not temper my hospitality for certain reasons, but have a genuine welcome for all.

Amen.

JUNE FOURTH

George III born 1738.

Lord Edward Fitzgerald died 1798.

General Garnet Wolseley born 1833.

This is the gospel of labor--ring it, Ye bells of the kirk-- The Lord of Love came down from above To live with the men who work.

This is the rose he planted, here In the thorn-cursed soil; Heaven is blest with perfect rest, but The blessing of earth is toil.

--Henry van d.y.k.e

No man is born into the world whose work Is not born with him. There is always work And tools to work withal, for those who will; And blessed are the h.o.r.n.y hands of toil.

--James Russell Lowell.

Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest.

--Exodus 23. 12.

My Father, I pray for the love of work, and the desire to cultivate life. Stir me, that I may be ambitious. May I not stare at life in an everyday way and forget that others are watching for the surprises.

Help me to be considerate and kind in all that I do. Amen.

JUNE FIFTH

Socrates born B.C. 469.

Dr. Adam Smith born 1723.

Karl Maria von Weber died 1826.

O. Henry died 1910.

You think that upon the score of foreknowledge and divining I am infinitely inferior to the swans. When they perceive approaching death they sing more merrily than before, because of the joy they have in going to the G.o.d they serve.

--Socrates.

O yet we trust that somehow good Will be the final goal of ill, To pangs of nature, sins of will, Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;

That nothing walks with aimless feet; That not one life shall be destroyed, Or cast as rubbish to the void, When G.o.d hath made the pile complete.

--Alfred Tennyson.

How precious is thy lovingkindness, O G.o.d! And the children of men take refuge under the shadow of thy wings.

--Psalm 36. 7.

Eternal G.o.d, forbid that I should try to set up thy judgment-seat in so small a place as self, and attempt to render decisions for thee. My soul lives anew as I think of thy love, and that there is no place where thy mercy can be withheld from me. Amen.

JUNE SIXTH

Diego R. Velasquez born 1599.

Pierre Corneille born 1606.

Nathan Hale born 1755.

Sir John Stainer born 1840.

These stones that make the meadow brooklet murmur Are the keys on which it plays.

O'er every shelving rock its touch grows firmer, Resounding notes to raise.

If every path o'er which footsteps wander, Were smooth as ocean strand, There were no theme for grat.i.tude and wonder At G.o.d's delivering hand.

--W. E. Winks.

We also rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh steadfastness; and steadfastness, approvedness; and approvedness, hope.

--Romans 5. 3, 4.

My Father, if rain may come to-day, may I realize its help, with the power of the sun, to increase life; and may its influence be sweet and wholesome to me, as I learn that sadness is temporary and will disappear with the coming of gladness. May I go search for the joy that may be mine to-day. Amen.