Leaves of Life

[Judy Harder]

DECEMBER TWENTY-SEVENTH

Jacques Bernoulli born 1654.
Johann Kepler born 1571.
Charles Lamb died 1834.

There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better or worse, as his portion; that, though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given him to till.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Knowing ourselves, our world, our task so great,
Our time so brief, 'tis clear if we refuse
The means so limited, the tools so rude
To execute our purpose, life will fleet,
And we shall fade, and leave our task undone.
--Robert Browning.

Study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your hands.
--1 Thessalonians 4. 11.

Lord God of life, give me the desire to learn, and the wisdom to live in my best. May I not fail to culture my mind and heart and make life productive and worthy. Help me to see the mistakes that I have made in the past, and in the year that is approaching not only try to avoid them, but try to make amends for them. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

DECEMBER TWENTY-EIGHTH

Catherine M. Sedgwick born 1789.
Woodrow Wilson , Virginia , twenty-seventh President United States , born 1856.
Thomas B. Macaulay died 1859.

The government might be serviceable for many things. It might assist in a hundred ways to safeguard the lives and the health and promote the comfort and happiness of the people; but it can do these things only if they respond to public opinion, only if those who lead government see the country as a whole, feel a deep thrill of intimate sympathy with every class and every interest in it.

--Woodrow Wilson.

The hearts of men are their books; events are their tutors; great actions are their eloquence.

--Thomas B. Macaulay.

Be of good courage, and let us play the man for our people, and for the cities of our God: and Jehovah do that which seemeth him good.

--2 Samuel 10. 12.

Lord God, I pray that my estimate of life may not be as I take it, but as thou hast given it for peace and prosperity. Teach me my duty to my country, and make me useful in uplifting and serving humanity. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

DECEMBER TWENTY-NINTH

Thomas a Becket died 1170.
Andrew Johnson , Tennessee , seventeenth President United States, born 1808.
William E. Gladstone born 1809.
Margaret Bottome born 1827.
Pauline O. Louise, Queen of Roumania (Carmen Sylva), born 1843.
Christina G. Rossetti died 1894.

One example is worth a thousand arguments.
--William E. Gladstone .

One day at a time! That's all it can be

No faster than that is the hardest of fate,

And days have their limit, however we

Begin them too early or stretch them late.

--J. R. Miller.

He lives happy and master of himself

Who can say, as each day passes on,

I have lived! no matter whether to-morrow

The great Father shall give us a clouded sky or a clear day.

--Horace.

Give us this day our daily bread.
--Matthew 6. 11.

Eternal God, guard me against the love of praise, that I may not lose the sense of duty. Start me for the right places and give me strength with my days, that I may press toward their possession. Deliver me from drifting when it is mine to pull against the tide, that I may not be carried out of my course. Shield me from the storms that may gather about me, and bring us all to the desired haven safe in thy keeping. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

DECEMBER THIRTIETH

Titus born A. D. 40.
William R. Alger born 1822.
Rudyard Kipling born 1865.

God of our fathers, known of old,

Lord of our far-flung battle line,

Beneath whose awful hand we hold

Dominion over palm and pine:

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

Lest we forget--lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust

In reeking tube and iron shard;

All valiant dust that builds on dust,

And guarding calls not thee to guard:

For frantic boast and foolish word,

Thy mercy on thy people, Lord! Amen.

--Rudyard Kipling.

But thou shalt remember Jehovah thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth. 

--Deuteronomy 8. 18.

Almighty God, as I come to thee wilt thou forgive me for the errors I have made, and for the promises that I have broken. Help me to be as true as the holly that keeps itself red through the snow. Remind me of my opportunities as I breathe in thy blessings, "Lest I forget!" Amen.

[Judy Harder]

DECEMBER THIRTY-FIRST

New Year's Eve.
John Wycliffe died 1384.
Battle of Wakefield 1460.
Charles Marquis Cornwallis born 1738.

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light:

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrow lust of gold:

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

--Alfred Tennyson.

Let every dawn of morning be to you as the beginning of life, and every setting sun be to you as its close.

  --John Ruskin.

The night is far spent, and the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

--Romans 13. 12.

My Father, as I look to the past days, I feel much of my happiness and much of my misery has come from my own choice. May I be more watchful of my standards and less wasteful of my time, and keep a poise in life that will leave a memory of well-spent days. For the year that has passed and for its blessings I thank thee. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY FIRST


Bartolome Esteban Murillo, baptized 1618.
Paul Revere born 1735.
Betsy Ross born 1752.
Maria Edgeworth born 1767.
Arthur Hugh Clough born 1819.

Old things need not be therefore true,
O brother men, nor yet the new;
Ah! still awhile the old thought retain,
And yet consider it again!
We! what do we see? each a space
Of some few yards before his face;
Does that the whole wide plan explain?
Ah, yet consider it again!
Alas! the great world goes its way,
And takes its truth from each new day;
They do not quit, nor can retain,
Far less consider it again.
--Arthur Hugh Clough.

There are two sorts of content; one is connected with exertion, the other habits of indolence. The first is a virtue; the other a vice.
--Maria Edgeworth.

Oh send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me:
Let them bring me unto thy holy hill,
And to thy tabernacles.
--Psalm 43. 3.

Almighty God, lead me in the search for life. Teach me what is important and what is unimportant; what is false, and what is true. Remove the hindrances that keep me from the worthiest deeds, and grant that I may have the peace that comes with surrender of self to thy will. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY SECOND

General James Wolfe born 1727.
Colonial flag first raised 1776.
Mary Carey Thomas born 1857.

To what profit we could use the time for our present task that we spend in impatient waiting and wondering over the future! So often the future is just one step up from the present, but some of us miss it by preferring to wait for an elevator.--M. B. S.


Prepare to live by all means, but for heaven's sake do not forget to live. You will never have a better chance than you have at present. You may think you will have, but you are mistaken.
--Arnold Bennett.

He that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night; while laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him. He that lives on hope will die fasting.
--Benjamin Franklin.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, whither thou goest.
--Ecclesiastes 9. 10.

Gracious Father, my heart burns with shame when I think how much I claim, and how little I am. I pray that my body may not cast a shadow to-day, and cloud the light of my life to-morrow. Cleanse the windows of my soul that I may take in thy glory. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY THIRD

Marcus Tullius Cicero born B. C. 106.
Martin Luther excommunicated 1521.
Douglas Jerrold born 1803.
Charles Wagner (France) born 1852.

To be continually advancing in the paths of knowledge is one of the most pleasing satisfactions of the human mind. These are pleasures perfect consistent with every degree of advanced years.
--Cicero.

Fidelity in small things is at the base of every great achievement. We too often forget this and yet no truth needs more to be kept in mind particularly in the troubled eras of history and in the crises of individual life. In shipwreck a splintered beam, an oar, any scrap of wreckage saves us. To despise the remnants is demoralization.
--Charles Wagner.

He that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much and he that is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much.
--Luke 16. 10

Almighty God, may I understand that thou art in everything and that I cannot hide from thee, for thou boldest me though I know it not. Give me the desire, and help me to learn of thy laws, that I may know that even in the least of things, I have the liberty to obtain happiness by obeying them. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY FOURTH

Archbishop Usher born 1580.
Jacob L. Carl Grimm born 1785.
Elizabeth Peabody died 1894.

Years rush by us like the wind, we see not whence the eddy comes, nor whitherward it is tending, and we seem ourselves to witness their flight without a sense that we are changed: and yet time is beguiling man of his strength, as the winds rob the trees of their foliage.
--Sir Walter Scott.

The bell strikes one. We take no note of Time
But from its loss. To give it, then a tongue
Is wise in man; as if an angel spoke
I feel the solemn sound. If heard aright
It is the knell of my departed hours:
Where are they?
--Edward Young.

Days should speak, And multitude of years should teach wisdom. And the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding. It is not the great that are wise, Nor the aged that understand justice.
--Job 32. 7, 9.

Lord God, help me to see my mistakes, and bring me to the realization of my life. Grant that I may no longer use the time that thou gavest me to learn in, heedlessly, but to give it my best thought and care. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY FIFTH

Stephen Decatur born 1779.
Robert Morrison born 1782.
Thomas Pringle born 1789.

Let me go where'er I will,
I hear a sky-born music still:
It sounds from all things old,
It sounds from all things young,
From all that's fair, from all that's foul,
Peals out a cheerful song.
It is not only in the rose,
It is not only in the bird,
Not only where the rainbow glows,
Nor in the song of woman heard,
But in the darkest, meanest things
There alway, alway something sings.
'Tis not in the high stars alone,
Nor in the cup of budding flowers,
Nor in the redbreast's mellow tone,
Nor in the bow that smiles in showers,
But in the mud and scum of things
There alway, alway something sings.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament showeth his handiwork.
--Psalm 19. 1.

Almighty God, grant that my life may no longer be a noise, but be kept in tune with the sublimest melodies, that wherever I am, there may be no discords in the songs of my soul. Through thy loving-kindness may my songs resound. Amen.