Daily Strength for Daily Needs. Mary Wilder Tileston
W. ROBERTSON.
Small kindnesses, small courtesies, small considerations, habitually practised in our social intercourse, give a greater charm to the character than the display of great talents and accomplishments.
M. A. KELTY.
March 3
I made haste, and delayed not to keep Thy commandments.—PS. cxix. 60.
Ye know not what shall be on the morrow.—JAMES iv. 14.
Never delay
To do the duty which the hour brings,
Whether it be in great or smaller things;
For who doth know
What he shall do the coming day?
ANON.
It is quite impossible that an idle, floating spirit can ever look up with clear eye to God; spreading its miserable anarchy before the symmetry of the creative Mind; in the midst of a disorderly being, that has neither centre nor circumference, kneeling beneath the glorious sky, that everywhere has both; and for a life that is all failure, turning to the Lord of the silent stars, of whose punctual thought it is, that "not one faileth." The heavens, with their everlasting faithfulness, look down on no sadder contradiction, than the sluggard and the slattern in their prayers.
J. MARTINEAU.
March 4
But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery, and their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace.—WISDOM OF SOLOMON iii. 1–3.
But souls that of His own good life partake,
He loves as His own self; dear as His eye
They are to Him: He 'll never them forsake:
When they shall die, then God Himself shall die;
They live, they live in blest eternity.
HENRY MORE.
Though every good man is not so logically subtile as to be able by fit mediums to demonstrate his own immortality, yet he sees it in a higher light: his soul, being purged and enlightened by true sanctity, is more capable of those divine irradiations, whereby it feels itself in conjunction with God. It knows that God will never forsake His own life which He hath quickened in it; He will never deny those ardent desires of a blissful fruition of Himself, which the lively sense of His own goodness hath excited within it: those breathings and gaspings after an eternal participation of Him are but the energy of His own breath within us; if He had had any mind to destroy it, He would never have shown it such things as He hath done.
DR. JOHN SMITH.
March 5
And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.—I JOHN iii. 3.
Now, Lord, what wait I for?
On Thee alone
My hope is all rested—
Lord, seal me Thine own!
Only Thine own to be,
Only to live to Thee.
Thine, with each day begun,
Thine, with each set of sun,
Thine, till my work is done.
ANNA WARNER.
Now, believe me, God hides some ideal in every human soul. At some time in our life we feel a trembling, fearful longing to do some good thing. Life finds its noblest spring of excellence in this hidden impulse to do our best. There is a time when we are not content to be such merchants or doctors or lawyers as we see on the dead level or below it. The woman longs to glorify her womanhood as sister, wife, or mother. Here is God—God standing silently at the door all day long—God whispering to the soul, that to be pure and true is to succeed in life, and whatever we get short of that will burn up like stubble, though the whole world try to save it.
ROBERT COLLYER.
March 6
The shadow of a great rock in a weary land.—ISA. xxxii. 2.
In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.—ISA. xxx. 15.
O Shadow in a sultry land!
We gather to Thy breast,
Whose love, enfolding like the night,
Brings quietude and rest,
Glimpse of the fairer life to be,
In foretaste here possessed.
C. M. PACKARD.
Strive to see God in all things without exception, and-acquiesce in His will with absolute submission. Do everything for God, uniting yourself to Him by a mere upward glance, or by the overflowing of your heart towards Him. Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inward peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset. Commend all to God, and then lie still and be at rest in His bosom. Whatever happens, abide steadfast in a determination to cling simply to God, trusting to His eternal love for you; and if you find that you have wandered forth from this shelter, recall your heart quietly and simply. Maintain a holy simplicity of mind, and do not smother yourself with a host of cares, wishes, or longings, under any pretext.
ST. FRANCIS DE SALES.
March 7
There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.—I COR. xii. 6.
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.—ISA. xlv. 7.
"All is of God that is, and is to be;
And God is good." Let this suffice us still,
Resting in childlike trust upon His will,
Who moves to His great ends, unthwarted by the ill.
J. G. WHITTIER.
This, then, is of faith, that everything, the very least, or what seems to us great, every change of the seasons, everything which touches us in mind, body, or estate, whether brought about through this outward senseless nature, or by the will of man, good or bad, is overruled to each of us by the all-holy and all-loving will of God. Whatever befalls us, however it befalls us, we must receive as the will of God. If it befalls us through man's negligence, or ill-will, or anger, still it is, in every the least circumstance, to us the will of God. For if the least thing could happen to us without God's permission, it would be something out of God's control. God's providence or His love would not be what they are. Almighty God Himself would not be the same God; not the God whom we believe, adore, and love.
E. B. PUSEY.
March 8
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.—2 TIM. ii. 15.
And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.—GAL. vi. 9.
The task Thy wisdom hath assigned,
Oh, let me cheerfully fulfil;
In all my works Thy presence find,
And prove Thine acceptable will.
C.