Leaves of Life

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY SIXTH


Epiphany, or Twelfth-Day.
Joan d'Arc born 1412.
David Dale born 1739.

'Twas even so! and thou the shepherd's child,
Joanne, the lowly dreamer of the wild!
Never before and never since that hour
Hath woman, mantled with victorious power,
Stood forth as thou beside the shrine didst stand,
Holy amidst the knighthood of the land.
--Mrs. Felicia Hemans.

Every one must recognize the splendid work which has been done by women in social and educational fields. And it will, I believe, come more and more to be recognized that in some respects women are specially fitted for government and for official-municipal life.
--Sir Oliver Lodge.
Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time. And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill-country of Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
--Judges 4. 4, 5.

My Father, help me to be thoughtful and just. May I consider the great truths and broader visions that may not be seen from where I stand. May I be willing to accept a better view. Grant that I may realize that the battle of life is not a sham battle, but a struggle for the advancement of life. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY SEVENTH


General Putnam born 1718.
Robert Nicholl born 1814.
T. DeWitt Talmage born 1832.

Opportunities fly in a straight line, touch us but once and never return, but the wrongs we do others fly in a circle; they come back from the place they started.
--T. DeWitt Talmage.

Our share of night to bear,
Our share of morning,
Our blank is bliss to fill,
Our blank is scorning.
Here a star, and there a star,
Some lose their way,
Here a mist, and there a mist,
Afterwards--day!
--Emily Dickinson.

Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your resting-place.
--Micah 2. 10.

Lord God, give me the desire to be persistent in service, while I have health and strength. May I experience the sweetness that comes in doing the thing that I ought to have done, as well as that in which I took the most pleasure. Help me to so live that my days may be useful, and be recalled with bright and happy recollections. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY EIGHTH

John Earl of Stair died 1707.
Sir William Draper died 1787.
Alfred Russel Wallace born 1823.
William Wilkie Collins born 1824.
Sir Laurence Alma-Tadema born 1836.

A blue bird built his nest
Here in my breast.
"O bird of Light! Whence comest thou?"
Said he, "From God above:
My name is Love."

A mate he brought one day,
Of plumage gray.
"O bird of Night! Why comest thou?"
Said she: "Seek no relief!
My name is Grief."
--Laurence Alma-Tadema.

It is not so much resolution as renunciation, not so much courage as resignation, that we need. He that has once yielded thoroughly to God will yield to nothing but God.
--John Ruskin.

Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, Neither will he uphold the evildoers. He will yet fill thy mouth with laughter, And thy lips with shouting.
--Job 8. 20, 21.

Almighty God, help me to understand that peace does not come in rebellion or grieving, but is obtained through the calm of the soul. Grant that if I may be perplexed or worried to-day, I may have the power to control myself and wait in thy strength. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY NINTH

Dr. Thomas Brown born 1778.
Elizabeth O. Benger died 1822.
Caroline Lucretia Herschel died 1848, aged ninety-seven.

Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness altogether past calculation its powers of endurance. Efforts to be permanently useful must be uniformly joyous--a spirit of all sunshine.
--Thomas Carlyle.

Honest good humor is the oil and wine of a merry meeting.
--Washington Irving.

A laugh is worth a hundred groans in any market.
--Charles Lamb.

A glad heart maketh a cheerful countenance; But by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.
Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, Than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.
--Proverbs 15. 13, 17.

Gracious Father, if I am sorrowing over disappointment and am forgetful, grant that I may see the things thou hast made, for which I should be thankful. Help me to so live that I may have a right to claim a cheerful heart. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY TENTH

Dr. George Birkbeck born 1776.
Michel or Marshal Ney born 1769.
Karl von Linné, Linnæus, died 1778.
Ethan Allen born 1737.

Shall I hold on with both hands to every paltry possession? All I have teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The practical weakness of the vast mass of modern pity for the poor and the oppressed is precisely that it is merely pity; the pity is pitiful but not respectful. Men feel that the cruelty to the poor is a kind of cruelty to animals. They never feel that it is injustice to equals; nay, it is treachery to comrades.
--G. K. Chesterton.

Be ye all like-minded, compassionate, loving as brethren, tender-hearted, humble-minded: not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but contrariwise blessing.
--1 Peter 3. 8, 9.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY ELEVENTH
Alexander Hamilton born 1757.
Bayard Taylor born 1825.
William James born 1842.
Alice Caldwell Regan Rice born 1870.


The paternal relation to man was the basis of that religion which appealed directly to the heart; so the fraternity of each man with his fellow was its practical application.
--Bayard Taylor.

It is indeed a remarkable fact that sufferings and hardships do not, as a rule, abate the love of life; they seem on the contrary, usually to give it a keener zest; and the sovereign source of melancholy is repletion. Need and struggle are what excite and inspire. Our hour of triumph is what brings the void.
--William James.

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to them that love him.
--James 1. 12.

Lord God, I come to thee for help that the small things may not force themselves into my life, and keep me from pursuing the larger things which are continually open to me. May I not be blind to what I may have and be, through inspiration and work. Grant that I may not be satisfied to remain in that in which I have triumphed, but climb to greater endeavors. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY TWELFTH

Edmund Burke born 1729.
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi born 1746.
François Coppée born 1842.
John S. Sargent born 1856.

Show the thing you contend for to be reason; show it to be common sense; show it to be the means of attaining some useful end. The question with me is not whether you have a right to render your people miserable, but whether it is your interest to make them happy.
--Edmund Burke.

Like the star
That shines afar,
Without haste
And without rest,
Let each man wheel with steady sway
Round the task that rules the day,
And do his best.
--Goethe.

Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.
--1 Corinthians 13. 4.

Gracious Father, cause me to be critical of my life, that I may not be deceived in myself. Help me to look into my soul and see what thou dost find there; and with humility may I acknowledge what I am to thee, and seek thy wisdom and love. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY THIRTEENTH

George Fox, founder Society of Friends, died 1691.
Samuel Woodworth (Old Oaken Bucket) born 1785.
Order of King's Daughters founded 1886.

Have thy soul feel the universal breath
With which all nature's quick, and learn to be
Sharer in all that thou dost touch or see;
Break from thy body's grasp thy spirit's trance;
Give thy soul air, thy faculties expanse;
Love, joy, even sorrow,--yield thyself to all!
They make thy freedom, groveling, not thy thrall.
Knock off the shackles which thy spirit bind
To dust and sense, and set at large the mind!
Then move in sympathy with God's great whole,
And be like man at first, a Living Soul.
--Richard Henry Dana.

I was deeply impressed by what a gardener once said to me concerning his work. "I feel, sir," he said, "when I am growing the flowers or rearing the vegetables, that I am having a share in creation." I thought it a very noble way of regarding his work.
--J. H. Jowett.

For we are God's fellow workers: ye are God's husbandry, God's building.
--1 Corinthians 3. 9.

Creator of all, help me to see what there is for me to do; and help me to know that I cannot be productive if I am hovering in the choice of my work. May I learn from thy great works of heaven and earth the ways of selection and steadfastness. Give me the desire to work and the confidence that is needed to carry on my work. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY FOURTEENTH

Madame de Sévigné died 1696.
Edmund Halley died 1742.
Pierre Loti born 1850.

Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute
What you can do, or dream you can; begin it;
Boldness has genius, power magic in it.
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated;
Begin and then the work will be completed.

--Goethe.


Were half the power that fills the world with terror,
Were half the wealth bestowed on camps and courts,
Given to redeem the human mind from error,
There were no need of arsenals or forts.

--Henry W. Longfellow.


Choose you this day whom ye will serve;... but as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah.

--Joshua 24. 15.


Almighty God, help me to appreciate the sacredness of work while I have it to do. Grant that I may be spared the wretchedness that comes from working with fragments from idleness. May I do my part, even if it be in obscurity and the night overtakes me before it is done. Amen.

[Judy Harder]

JANUARY FIFTEENTH

Molière born 1622.
Dr. Samuel Parr born 1747.
Edward Everett died 1865.

The sun withholds his generous beam;
Athwart my soul the shadows stream;
The weird winds boisterously blow,
And drift the melancholy snow.
When I, in sorrow and despair,
Expect the storm, with tender care
He rends the clouds and through the blue
The glorious sun breaks forth anew.
--M. B. S.

So with the wan waste grasses on my spear,
I ride forever seeking after God.
My hair grows whiter than my thistle plume
And all my limbs are loose; but in my eyes
The star of an unconquerable praise;
For in my soul one hope forever sings,
That at the next white corner of the road
My eyes may look on Him.
--G. K. Chesterton.

He brought me forth also into a large place;
He delivered me, because he delighted in me.
--Psalm 18. 19.

Loving Father, if I may be discouraged to-day, strengthen my faith. May I not weary of waiting for thee, but trust in thy promises. Amen.