Leaves of Life Part 56

--Henry David Th.o.r.eau.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost--that is where they should be: now put foundations under them.

--Henry David Th.o.r.eau.

He is like a man building a house, who digged and went deep, and laid a foundation upon the rock: and when a flood arose, the stream brake against that house, and could not shake it: because it had been well builded.

--Luke 6. 48.

Lord of strength, I pray that while I may lay a strong foundation for my life, I may remember that I should not delay the building by neglecting to complete the plans. May I look to-day and see if I am making my words stronger than my life. With thy wisdom help me to realize that the test of life is made with the soul. Amen.

JULY THIRTEENTH

Richard Cromwell died 1712.

Elijah Fenton died 1730.

Jean Paul Marat killed by Charlotte Corday 1793.

Let each day take thought for what concerns it, liquidate its own affairs, and respect the day which is to follow, and then it shall be ready.

--Amiel.

What does your anxiety do? It does not empty to-morrow, brother, of its sorrow; but ah! it empties to-day of its strength. It does not make you escape the evil; it makes you unfit to cope with it if it comes.

--Ian Maclaren.

Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.

--Matthew 6. 25.

My Father, save me from the habit of borrowing. So often I borrow trouble and cannot use it, when the peace that I possess is all that I need. Help me, that I may not miss the glory of to-day, by antic.i.p.ating the uncertainty of to-morrow; but may I discern my place and have delight in every day. Amen.

JULY FOURTEENTH

Bastille destroyed 1789.

Jane Baillie Welch Carlyle born 1801.

Owen Wister born 1860.

Sail fast, sail fast, Ark of my hopes, Ark of my dreams; Sweep lordly o'er the drowned Past, Fly glittering through the sun's strange beams; Sail fast, sail fast.

Breath of new buds from off some drying lea, With news about the Future scent the sea; My brain is beating like the heart of Haste.

I'll loose me a bird upon this Present waste; Go, trembling song, And stay not long; O, stay not long; Thou art only a gray and sober dove, But thine eye is faith and thy wing is love.

--Sidney Lanier.

G.o.d speed thee, pretty bird; may thy small nest, With little ones all in good time be blest.

I love thee much; For well thou managest that life of thine, Well I!--O ask not what I do with mine!

Would I were such!

--Jane Welch Carlyle.

Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them.

Are not ye of much more value than they?

--Matthew 6. 26.

My Father, may I start this day with more faith in myself and greater love for thy world. May my soul be awakened to the highest and be ready for the joys of to-day. Amen.

JULY FIFTEENTH

Inigo Jones born 1573.

Rembrandt born 1607.

Henry Edward Manning born 1808.

William Winter born 1836.

His was the heart that overmuch In human goodness puts its trust, And his the keen, satiric touch That shrivels falsehood into dust.

Fierce for the right, he bore his part In strife with many a valiant foe; But laughter winged his polished dart, And kindness tempered every blow.

--William Winter.

A wise man will so act that whatever he does may rather seem voluntary and of his own free will than done by compulsion, however much he may be compelled by necessity.

--Machiavelli.

Wherefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him back to see what shall be after him?

--Ecclesiastes 3. 22.

Lord G.o.d, may I not forget that it is in the light, and not the darkness, that my work is revealed. I beseech thee to pour in thy light as I plan my life, and open my heart and mind for the reception of thy truth. Amen.