Daily Strength for Daily Needs Part 29

June 5

_Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth_.--I SAM. iii. 9.

Though heralded with nought of fear, Or outward sign or show: Though only to the inward ear It whispers soft and low; Though dropping, as the manna fell, Unseen, yet from above, Noiseless as dew-fall, heed it well,-- Thy Father's call of love.

J. G. WHITTIER.

This is one result of the att.i.tude into which we are put by humility, by disinterestedness, by purity, by calmness, that we have the opportunity, the disengagement, the silence, in which we may watch what is the will of G.o.d concerning us. If we think no more of ourselves than we ought to think, if we seek not our own but others' welfare, if we are prepared to take all things as G.o.d's dealings with us, then we may have a chance of catching from time to time what G.o.d has to tell us. In the Mussulman devotions, one constant gesture is to put the hands to the ears, as if to listen for the messages from the other world. This is the att.i.tude, the posture which our minds a.s.sume, if we have a standing-place above and beyond the stir and confusion and dissipation of this mortal world.

A. P. STANLEY.

June 6

_Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my G.o.d_.--REV.

iii. 12.

_In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of G.o.d through the Spirit_.--EPH. ii. 22.

None the place ordained refuseth, They are one, and they are all, Living stones, the Builder chooseth For the courses of His wall.

JEAN INGELOW.

Slowly, through all the universe, that temple of G.o.d is being built.

Wherever, in any world, a soul, by free-willed obedience, catches the fire of G.o.d's likeness, it is set into the growing walls, a living stone.

When, in your hard fight, in your tiresome drudgery, or in your terrible temptation, you catch the purpose of your being, and give yourself to G.o.d, and so give Him the chance to give Himself to you, your life, a living stone, is taken up and set into that growing wall. Wherever souls are being tried and ripened, in whatever commonplace and homely ways;--there G.o.d is hewing out the pillars for His temple. Oh, if the stone can only have some vision of the temple of which it is to be a part forever, what patience must fill it as it feels the blows of the hammer, and knows that success for it is simply to let itself be wrought into what shape the Master wills.

PHILLIPS BROOKS.

June 7

_Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day_.--I THESS.

v. 5.

_Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart_.--PS. xcvii. 11.

Serene will be our days and bright, And happy will our nature be, When love is an unerring light, And joy its own security.

W. WORDSWORTH.

Nothing can produce so great a serenity of life, as a mind free from guilt, and kept untainted, not only from actions, but purposes that are wicked.

By this means the soul will be not only unpolluted, but not disturbed; the fountain will run clear and unsullied, and the streams that flow from it will be just and honest deeds, ecstasies of satisfaction, a brisk energy of spirit, which makes a man an enthusiast in his joy, and a tenacious memory, sweeter than hope. For as shrubs which are cut down with the morning dew upon them do for a long time after retain their fragrancy, so the good actions of a wise man perfume his mind, and leave a rich scent behind them.

So that joy is, as it were, watered with these essences, and owes its flourishing to them.

PLUTARCH.

June 8

_Who hath despised the day of small things_? ZECH. iv. 10.

Little things On little wings Bear little souls to heaven.

ANON.

An occasional effort even of an ordinary holiness may accomplish great acts of sacrifice, or bear severe pressure of unwonted trial, specially if it be the subject of observation. But constant discipline in unnoticed ways, and the spirit's silent unselfishness, becoming the hidden habit of the life, give to it its true saintly beauty, and this is the result of care and lowly love in little things. Perfection is attained most readily by this constancy of religious faithfulness in all minor details of life, consecrating the daily efforts of self-forgetting love.

T. T. CARTER.

Love's secret is to be always doing things for G.o.d, and not to mind because they are such very little ones.

F. W. FABER.

There may be living and habitual conversation in heaven, under the aspect of the most simple, ordinary life. Let us always remember that holiness does not consist in doing uncommon things, but in doing everything with purity of heart.

H. E. MANNING.

June 9

_He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city_.--PROV. xvi. 32.

Purge from our hearts the stains so deep and foul, Of wrath and pride and care; Send Thine own holy calm upon the soul, And bid it settle there!

ANON.

Let this truth be present to thee in the excitement of anger,--that to be moved by pa.s.sion is not manly, but that mildness and gentleness, as they are more agreeable to human nature, so also are they more manly. For in the same degree in which a man's mind is nearer to freedom from all pa.s.sion, in the same degree also is it nearer to strength.

MARCUS ANTONINUS.

It is no great matter to a.s.sociate with the good and gentle, for this is naturally pleasing to all, and every one willingly enjoyeth peace, and loveth those best that agree with him. But to be able to live peaceably with hard and perverse persons, or with the disorderly, or with such as go contrary to us, is a great grace, and a most commendable and manly thing.

THOMAS a KEMPIS.

June 10