Leaves of Life

[Judy Harder]

Leaves of Life
Welcome to Leaves of Life, a free devotional from Crosswalk, the world's largest Christian website.

OCTOBER TWENTY-SEVENTH

James Cook born 1728.
Nicolo Paganini born 1782.
Theodore Roosevelt , New York , twenty-fifth President United States , born 1858.
The vice of envy is not only a dangerous, but a mean vice; for it is always a confession of inferiority. It may promote conduct which will be fruitful of wrong to others, and it must cause misery to the man who feels it.

  --Theodore Roosevelt.



Of all the passions, jealousy is that which exacts the hardest service, and pays the bitterest wages. Its service is to watch the success of one's enemy; its wages to be sure of it.

  --C. C. Colton.



Dear to me is the friend, yet I can also make use of an enemy. The friend shows me what I can do, the foe teaches me what I should.

--Schiller.



Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another.

--Galatians 5. 26.



Almighty God, I would ask thee that my days be filled with aspiration, and that my heart may know no envy. Help me to love humanity. May I be so glad of the success of others that I may never know what it is to be envious. Amen.
 

[Judy Harder]

Leaves of Life,

OCTOBER TWENTY-EIGHTH

Desiderius Erasmus born 1465.
John Locke died 1704.
Georges Jacques Danton born 1759.
Not so in haste, my heart!

Have faith in God and wait;

Although he linger long,

He never comes too late.

Until he cometh, rest,

Nor grudge the hours that roll;

The feet that wait for God

Are soonest at the goal;

Are soonest at the goal

That is not gained by speed;

Then hold thee still, my heart,

For I shall wait his lead.

--Bayard Taylor.



It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Jehovah.

--Lamentations 3. 26.



Lord of life, may I pause to remember that rest may not be obtained with wretched thoughts, nor can it be enjoyed in discontent. In my moments of rest wilt thou show me how to relax, and with tranquillity may I gather hope for renewed ambition. Amen.
 

[Judy Harder]

OCTOBER TWENTY-NINTH

Sir Walter Raleigh beheaded 1618.
James Boswell born 1740.
John Keats born 1795.
Thomas Bayard born 1828.
Thomas Edward Brown died 1897.

Rise, O my soul, with thy desires to heaven,

And with divinest contemplation use

Thy time where time's eternity is given,

And let vain thoughts no more thy thoughts abuse;

But down in darkness let them lie:

So live thy better, let thy worse thoughts die!

--Sir Walter Raleigh.

The great elements we know of are no mean comforters; the open sky sits upon our senses like a sapphire crown--the air is our robe of state, the Earth is our throne, and the Sea a mighty minstrel playing before it.

  --John Keats.

Ah Lord Jehovah! behold, thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and by thine outstretched arm; there is nothing too hard for thee.

  --Jeremiah 32. 17.

Almighty God, I thank thee for the power that gives me the breath of life. May I be willing to be controlled by its guiding care. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

OCTOBER THIRTIETH

Rev. John Whitaker died 1808.
John Adams, Massachusetts, second President United States, born 1735.
Adelaide Anne Procter born 1825.
And yet thou canst know,
And yet thou canst not see;
Wisdom and sight are slow
In poor humanity.
If thou couldst trust, poor soul,
In Him who rules the whole,
Thou wouldst find peace and rest;
Wisdom and right are well, but trust is best.
--Adelaide Anne Procter.

The heart to speak in vain essayed,
Nor could his purpose reach--
His will nor voice nor tongue obeyed,
His silence was his speech.
--John Quincy Adams.

But still believe that story wrong
Which ought not to be true.
--Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

Blessed is the man that maketh Jehovah his trust.
--Psalm 40. 4.

My Father, may I not be given to unkindly speech. Deliver me from a critical spirit; and may I not encourage mistrust, but cultivate the kindly considerations in which life abounds. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

OCTOBER THIRTY-FIRST

All Hallow's Eve.
John Evelyn born 1620.
Christopher Anstey born 1724.
Ere, in the northern gale
The summer tresses of the trees are gone,
The woods of autumn, all around our vale,
Have put their glory on.
The mountains that unfold,
In their wide sweep, the colored landscape round,
Seem groups of giant kings, in purple and gold,
That guard the enchanted ground.
Ah! 'twere a lot too blessed
Forever in thy colored shades to stray;
Amid the kisses of the soft southwest
To rove and dream for aye;
And leave the vain low strife
That makes men mad; the tug for wealth and power,
The passions and the cares that wither life,
And waste its little hour.
--William Cullen Bryant.

Let the field exult, and all that is therein; Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy.
--Psalm 96. 12.

My Father, may I have an appreciation of the wonderful creations of the earth. Give me a discriminating eye, that I may know the precious things that thou art growing; and throughout my life may I love the beautiful, and choose that which will make my life worthy of growth. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

NOVEMBER FIRST

Sir Matthew Hale born 1609.
William M. Chase born 1849.
Sir Robert Grant died 1892.

O worship the King, all glorious above,
O gratefully sing his power and his love;
Our Shield and Defender, the ancient of days,
Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.
Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.
--Robert Grant.

Ye shall walk in all the way which Jehovah your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.
--Deuteronomy 5. 33.

Almighty God, help me to make my life refulgent while I have the abundance of summer, that I may not find the November of life bleak and barren. Help me to live in the realities of life, that I may gain energy and repose, to use for the lonesome and anxious hours. May I be watchful for the conditions that thwart life, and with patience wait for the awakening of truth. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

NOVEMBER SECOND

Marie Antoinette born 1755.
Field-Marshal Radetzky born 1766.
James Knox Polk, North Carolina, eleventh President United States, born 1795.

Overmastering pain--the most deadly and tragical element in life--alas! pain has its own way with all of us; it breaks in, a rude visitant, upon the fairy garden where the child wanders in a dream, no less surely than it rules upon the field of battle, or sends the immortal war-god whimpering to his father; and innocence, no more than philosophy, can protect us from this sting.
--Robert Louis Stevenson.

My hopes retire; my wishes as before
Struggle to find their resting place in vain;
The ebbing sea thus beats against the shore;
The shore repels it; it returns again.
--W. S. Landor.

Yet Jehovah will command his loving-kindness in the day-time, And in the night his song shall be with me.
--Psalm 42. 8.

Loving Father, I bless thee for thy goodness and tender mercy which is over all. May I trust thy provision and love through all circumstances, and as I trust myself to thee may I have faith to believe that thou wilt give me strength for what I may have to endure, and believe that thou wilt care for me, as thou dost care for all. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

NOVEMBER THIRD

Lucan born A. D. 39.
William Cullen Bryant born 1794.
Francis D. Millet born 1846.
John Watson (Ian Maclaren) born 1850.
Pearl Mary Teresa Craigie (John Oliver Hobbes) born 1867.

Whither, midst falling dew,
While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
Thy solitary way!
Vainly the fowler's eye
Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,
Thy figure floats along.
He who, from zone to zone,
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone,
Will lead my steps aright.
--William Cullen Bryant.

For Jehovah your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over.
--Joshua 4. 23.

Almighty God, help me to guard against gratification that leads to disappointment, that I may not miss the true way. I pray that thou wilt lift me in my weakness, and carry me over the rough and discouraging places, that I may be made strong in thy loving care, and be able to continue alone. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

NOVEMBER FOURTH

Guido Reni born 1575.
James Montgomery born 1771.
Edmund Keane born 1787.
Ernest Howard Crosby born 1856.
Eugene Field died 1895.

Keep me, I pray, in wisdom's way,
That I may truths eternal seek;
I need protecting care to-day--
My purse is light, my flesh is weak.
--Eugene Field.

No one could tell me where my Soul might be,
I searched for God, but God eluded me.
I sought my brother out, and found all three.
--Ernest H. Crosby.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he will direct thy paths.
--Proverbs 3. 6.

My Father, may I not face the going down of the sun to-day, looking at life, in a mirror that reflects my own privileges and prejudices, but may I see it as it is, known to those who are living to make it better. May the days to come prove my sincerity in wanting the truth that I might live by it, and help to do good with it. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

NOVEMBER FIFTH

Hans Sachs born 1494.
Dr. John Brown born 1715.
Benjamin Butler born 1818.

The thing that goes the farthest
Toward making life worth while,
That costs the least, and does the most,
Is just a pleasant smile.
That smile that bubbles from a heart
That loves its fellow men
Will drive away the cloud of gloom
And coax the sun again.

--Anonymous.

One whom I knew intimately, and whose memory I revere, once in my hearing remarked that, "Unless we love people we cannot understand them." This was a new light to me.
--Christina G. Rossetti.

Oil and perfume rejoice the heart; So doth the sweetness of a man's friend that cometh of hearty counsel.

--Proverbs 27. 9.

Lord God, I pray that I may be worthy of my friends. May I not fear to go where I am called, and may I go cheerfully, even though the way be dark and lonesome. Amen.