Chapter C: H. Wheeler

January 7

_And I, too, sing the song of all creation,
A brave sky and a glad wind blowing by,
A clear trail and an hour for meditation,
A long day and the joy to make it fly,
A hard task and the muscle to achieve it,
A fierce noon and a well-contented gloom,
A good strife and no great regret to leave it,
A still night--and the far red lights of home._

H. H. BASHFORD.

Almighty God, we thank Thee that Thou art our Father, and that Thou lovest us as though Thou hadst no other children; we adore Thee for the beautiful world in which Thou hast placed us; for trees and birds and flowers and sky, for friends and music and books and all the ten thousand mercies which crown our lives. We thank Thee too, for hard tasks and severe disciplines, for everything that is intended to make us strong and brave and true. Thou art the Lord of the day and of the night also. Give us grace to trust Thee and to believe in Thy motherly solicitude at all times. May Thy goodness lead us to repentance and to joyous unselfish living and may we so improve our opportunities for service that we shall make others think of Him who went about doing good and trusted in His Father with a perfect trust. Amen.

DILLON BRONSON.

January 8

_Have we not all, amid life's petty strife,
Some pure ideal of a noble life
That once seemed possible? Did we not hear
The flutter of its wings and feel it near,
And just within our reach? It was. And yet
We lost it in this daily jar and fret.
But still our place is kept and it will wait,
Ready for us to fill it, soon or late.
No star is ever lost we once have seen:
We always may be what we might have been._

ADELAIDE A. PROCTER.

O Thou, whose goodness is new to us every morning and fresh every evening, we bless Thee for Thy patient and unforgetting care of all of us. Though we transgress Thy beneficent laws and frequently lose sight of our cherished ideals, our hunger and thirst for righteousness never dies, for we partake of Thy Divine Nature. O that we might always be animated with Thy spirit of disinterested Love. We thank Thee this day for the inspiration of light and joy of our gifted poets and pray that we may meet the daily trials of life with a sweet and courageous spirit, remembering that "no star we have ever seen will cease to shine." Amen.

WILLIAM G. BABCOCK.

January 9

_The future is lighted for us with the radiant colors of hope.
Strife and sorrow shall disappear. Peace and love shall reign
supreme. The dream of poets, the lesson of priest and prophet, the
inspiration of the great musician, is confirmed in the light of
modern knowledge; and, as we gird ourselves for the work of life,
we may look forward to the time when in the truest sense the
kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of Christ, and He
shall reign forever and ever, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords._

JOHN FISKE.

All-wise and all-loving Father, we invoke Thy aid at the opening of a glad, new day. For the past we thank Thee, remembering that each day yielded its blessings. We rejoice that the victories of yesterday are the promise of larger successes today. Whenever during the day, we shall be conscious of our littleness, give us at that moment the vision of our possible largeness. Teach us, however tumultuous be the outward conditions, to maintain the inward calm. Today may Thy love work its miracle upon our pain and pleasure. So through faithful, hopeful work may we find Thy kingdom nearer at this day's close. Amen.

A. EUGENE BARTLETT.

January 10

_Blessings on the man who smiles! I do not mean the man who smiles
for effect, nor the one who smiles when the world smiles. I mean
the man whose smile is born of an inner radiance, the man who
smiles when the clouds lower, when fortune frowns, when the tides
are adverse. Such a man not only makes a new world for himself, but
he multiplies himself an hundred fold in the strength and courage
of other men._

GEORGE L. PERIN.

Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our Father in heaven and on the earth! Give to us of Thy blessedness that all this day we may rejoice in Thee. Incline our hearts to see Thy goodness and wisdom. Make the gladness of our hearts constant that it may illumine our presence, so that those who walk with us may walk in Thy light and give Thee thanks. Make Thy joy our strength, whether expressed in storm or sunshine, that we may consent to Thy will cheerfully. We ask these and all gifts in the name of Him who would have His joy abide in us, that our joy may be fulfilled. Amen.

ALEXANDER MCKENZIE.

January 11

_Talk happiness! The world is sad enough,
Without your woes. No path is wholly rough;
Look for the places that are smooth and clear
And speak of those who rest the weary ear
Of earth, so hurt by one continuous strain
Of human discontent and grief and pain._

_Talk health! The dreary, never changing tale
Of mortal maladies is worn and stale.
You cannot charm or interest or please,
By harping on that minor chord, disease.
Say you are well, or all is well with you,
And God shall hear your words and make them true._

ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.

Heavenly Father, by whose mercy we are permitted to greet another day, we offer Thee this morning our grateful praise for all the blessings of this life. We take from Thee with thankful heart the gift of health, conscious that we shall never know how rich the gift until we lose it. Now, while it is ours, may we use it with abounding joy for the good of those we may meet this day. To be able to bring light where there is darkness, hope where there is despair, comfort where there is sorrow, and so to be the children of our Father which is in Heaven, for this we pray, with the pardon of our sins, in Jesus' name. Amen.

FRANCIS H. ROWLEY.

January 12

_The crest and crowning of all good,
Life's final star, is Brotherhood;
For it will bring again to Earth
Her long-lost Poesy and Mirth;
Will send new light on every face,
A kingly power upon the race,
And till it comes, we men are slaves,
And travel downward to the dust of graves.
Come clear the way, then, clear the way;
Blind creeds and kings have had their day,
Our hope is in the aftermath--
Our hope is in heroic men,
Star-led to build the world again.
To this event the ages ran;
Make way for Brotherhood--make way for Man._

EDWIN MARKHAM.

O Lord, make us like Thee. There can be no greater ambition, no loftier desire, no holier purpose, for Thou holdest the secret of Brotherhood. Like Thee, the only begotten of the Father, the essence of love, the joy of angels, the hope of the world,--make us like Thee, O Christ. Let Thy light be our light; thy service our joy; Thy peace our inheritance. Touch our lips that we may say no unkind word; touch our hearts that we may feel no wrong desires. May our living be for the world's good, our acts precious helps to Thy kingdom, our all consecrated to Thy blessed service. May we be satisfied when we awake with Thy likeness. Amen.

WILLIAM H. MAIN.

January 13

_If there be some weaker one,
Give me strength to help him on;
If a blinder soul there be,
Let me guide him nearer Thee.
Make my mortal dreams come true
With the work I fain would do;
Clothe with life the weak intent,
Let me be the thing I meant;
Let me find in Thine employ
Peace that dearer is than joy!_

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.

Heavenly Father! We humbly beseech Thee to breathe upon us Thy Holy Spirit, that we may be Thy true disciples, that we may be quick to see our brother's need, and quicker to relieve it. If he has lost his way, may we be aided to show it to him clearly. May we see our brother in the Master's "prodigal," and find in every needy soul our sphere of service. Forgive our weak excuses, and make the flickering embers burn to fervent heat, that the ideal Thou hast given in Thy Word may command every power of our lives. For Jesus' sake, Amen.

GEORGE WHITAKER.

January 14

_A German allegory tells of two little girls. They had been playing
together in a strange garden, and soon one ran in to her mother
full of disappointment. "The garden's a sad place, mother." "Why,
my child?" "I've been all around, and every rose-tree has cruel,
long thorns upon it!" Then the second child came in breathless. "O
Mother, the garden's a beautiful place!" "How so, my child?" "Why,
I've been all around, and every thorn-bush has lovely roses growing
on it!" And the mother wondered at the difference in the two
children._

ANONYMOUS.

Divine Spirit and Soul of this day! We rejoice in its accomplished and its prophetic beauty and wealth which even our undisciplined hearts and minds may readily perceive, but may we increase the joy of its activities and its whole divine meaning by a deeper appreciation of its ministry to the disciplined life we bear. If there shall be fortunes in its passing which we would not choose, if there shall be encountered any experiences we would shun, may we remember that our reverses only emphasize our successes, that our sorrows intensify our joys, that even the humiliation and shame of the "far country" add divine meaning to the Father's House where wait the sandals and robes and rings for the comfort and beauty that are yet to be. May we learn that the thorn protects the rose, that the flaming sword turning in all directions protects the Tree of Life in every Eden of the world. May we remember that every great and good fortune of life is guarded by a seeming hostility which bears in its soul the secret of a lasting benevolence appointed for our own good. Amen.

E. L. REXFORD.

January 15

_We are haunted by an ideal life, and it is because we have within
us the beginning and the possibility of it. God is our continual
incitement because we are His children. So the ideal life is in our
blood and never will be still. We feel the thing we ought to be
beating beneath the thing we are. Every time we see a man who has
attained our ideal a little more fully than we have it wakens our
languid blood and fills us with new longings._

PHILLIPS BROOKS.

O God, we thank Thee each morning for ideals which appeal to us with such persistence that we have no peace unless we pursue them. Even in our seeming indifference we are ill at ease, because Thy voice calling to us disturbs our fancied content. We are not satisfied with ourselves nor with our attainments. "We shall be satisfied only when we wake in Thy likeness." Weary though we often are in our service yet we thank Thee that Thou relentlessly pursuest us with even greater and higher demands. Help us in our onward and upward plodding. Revive our failing spirits. Lead us ever on. Help us to realize that "in our patience we shall win our souls." We pray as followers of Jesus Christ. Amen.

THEODORE A. FISCHER.

January 16

_O Singer of today, this glorious hour
Is all for you and me--what shall it give
To us, and ask of fate--what splendid power
In brain and hand, what glorious right to live
Among our fellows and to war with sin?
What quickening of the pulse as we aspire
To claim our right, and risk earth's joys to win,
To conquer self, and force it through the fire!
Give us this force, dear God, and evermore
Give us a deepening love of all our fellowmen;
Give us new insight--courage to explore
With all the tenderness of human ken
The lowliest heart that beats in human kind,
Its glory and its soul to seek and find!_

WILLIAM ORDWAY PARTRIDGE.

O Soul of all souls! Baptize us afresh this morning into the lustral waters that we may devoutly thank Thee that Thou art and that Thou dost clearly reveal Thyself to Christian souls through Thy Son, as the Father of the great brotherhood of mankind. So wait upon us that we shall go forth to this day's duties resolved upon so living as to render the morning glad, the noon redolent with merciful activity, and the evening full of praise. Thus quickened and enlarged the night will afford rest and recuperation fitting us to welcome the morrow, still hoping, loving, progressing, obedient to the sainted call, "Up higher," being incessantly recompensed with the coveted refrain, "Well done." Amen.

S. H. MCCOLLESTER.

January 17

_There is one topic peremptorily forbidden to all well-bred, to all
rational mortals, namely, their distempers. If you have not slept
or if you have slept, or if you have headache, or sciatica, or
leprosy or thunder stroke, I beseech you, by all angels, to hold
your peace, and not pollute the morning, to which all the
housemates bring serene and pleasant thoughts, by corruption and
groans._

RALPH WALDO EMERSON.

Our Father, when we remember the multitude of Thy mercies our hearts are filled with peace and praise and we are ashamed to murmur and complain. Turn our thoughts toward the love and joy that this day holds for us; its opportunities, its privileges and victories. Let the morning light dispel the shadows on our faces and the fears in our hearts. Thou hast glorified us and will glorify us again. Help us to be grateful for the rose that smiles amidst the thorns and the light that ever shines behind the clouds. Grant that the spirit of trust may prevail in us and send us on our way with power to conquer. Amen.

ABRAM CONKLIN.

January 18

_Simplicity is a state of mind. It dwells in the main intention of
our lives. A man is simple when his chief care is the wish to be
what he ought to be, that is, honestly and naturally human. And
this is neither so easy nor so impossible as one might think. At
bottom it consists in putting our acts and aspirations in
accordance with the law of our being, and consequently with the
Eternal Intention which willed that we should be at all. Let a
flower be a flower, a swallow a swallow, a rock a rock, and let a
man be a man, and not a fox, a hare, a hog, or a bird of prey; this
is the sum of the whole matter._

CHARLES WAGNER.

Dear Heavenly Father, we rejoice in the awakening of body and soul to new activities. We thank Thee for the gift of divinity in the soul and for opportunity to give it expression. We would be true to ourselves, knowing we can thus alone be true to Thee. O God, hush the voice of evil passion. Quicken every noble aspiration. Grant the vision of Thy holy love that Thy image within us may remain clear in the turmoil of our life. We pray Thee stir the heart and mind that both may grow up to the full stature of man as it was in Jesus, our Saviour. Amen.