Leaves of Life, for Daily Inspiration. Margaret Bird Steinmetz
target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_6b509093-1b70-54dd-b778-eacd8ecebddb">020304050607080910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031Janus am I; oldest of potentates; Forward I look, and backward, and below I count, as god of avenues and gates, The years that through my portals come and go. I block the roads, and drift the fields with snow; I chase the wild fowl from the frozen fen; My frosts congeal the rivers in their flow, My fires light up the hearths and hearts of men. —Henry W. Longfellow. JANUARY FIRSTTable of Contents Bartolome Esteban Murillo, baptized 1618.Paul Revere born 1735.Betsy Ross born 1752.Maria Edgeworth born 1767.Arthur Hugh Clough born 1819.Old things need not be therefore true, O brother men, nor yet the new; Ah! still awhile the old thought retain, And yet consider it again! We! what do we see? each a space Of some few yards before his face; Does that the whole wide plan explain? Ah, yet consider it again! Alas! the great world goes its way, And takes its truth from each new day; They do not quit, nor can retain, Far less consider it again. —Arthur Hugh Clough. There are two sorts of content; one is connected with exertion, the other habits of indolence. The first is a virtue; the other a vice. —Maria Edgeworth. Oh send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me: Let them bring me unto thy holy hill, And to thy tabernacles.—Psalm 43. 3. Almighty God, lead me in the search for life. Teach me what is important and what is unimportant; what is false, and what is true. Remove the hindrances that keep me from the worthiest deeds, and grant that I may have the peace that comes with surrender of self to thy will. Amen. JANUARY SECONDTable of Contents General James Wolfe born 1727.Colonial flag first raised 1776.Mary Carey Thomas born 1857. To what profit we could use the time for our present task that we spend in impatient waiting and wondering over the future! So often the future is just one step up from the present, but some of us miss it by preferring to wait for an elevator. —M. B. S. Prepare to live by all means, but for heaven's sake do not forget to live. You will never have a better chance than you have at present. You may think you will have, but you are mistaken. —Arnold Bennett. He that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night; while laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him. He that lives on hope will die fasting. —Benjamin Franklin. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, whither thou goest. —Ecclesiastes 9. 10. Gracious Father, my heart burns with shame when I think how much I claim, and how little I am. I pray that my body may not cast a shadow to-day, and cloud the light of my life to-morrow. Cleanse the windows of my soul that I may take in thy glory. Amen. JANUARY THIRDTable of Contents Marcus Tullius Cicero born BC 106.Martin Luther excommunicated 1521.Douglas Jerrold born 1803.Charles Wagner (France) born 1852. To be continually advancing in the paths of knowledge is one of the most pleasing satisfactions of the human mind. These are pleasures perfect consistent with every degree of advanced years. —Cicero. Fidelity in small things is at the base of every great achievement. We too often forget this and yet no truth needs more to be kept in mind particularly in the troubled eras of history and in the crises of individual life. In shipwreck a splintered beam, an oar, any scrap of wreckage saves us. To despise the remnants is demoralization. —Charles Wagner. He that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much and he that is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much. —Luke 16. 10 Almighty God, may I understand that thou art in everything and that I cannot hide from thee, for thou boldest me though I know it not. Give me the desire, and help me to learn of thy laws, that I may know that even in the least of things, I have the liberty to obtain happiness by obeying them. Amen. JANUARY FOURTHTable of Contents Archbishop Usher born 1580.Jacob L. Carl Grimm born 1785.Elizabeth Peabody died 1894. Years rush by us like the wind, we see not whence the eddy comes, nor whitherward it is tending, and we seem ourselves to witness their flight without a sense that we are changed: and yet time is beguiling man of his strength, as the winds rob the trees of their foliage. —Sir Walter Scott. The bell strikes one. We take no note of Time But from its loss. To give it, then a tongue Is wise in man; as if an angel spoke I feel the solemn sound. If heard aright It is the knell of my departed hours: Where are they?—Edward Young. Days should speak, And multitude of years should teach wisdom. And the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding. It is not the great that are wise, Nor the aged that understand justice. —Job 32. 7, 9. Lord God, help me to see my mistakes, and bring me to the realization of my life. Grant that I may no longer use the time that thou gavest me to learn in, heedlessly, but to give it my best thought and care. Amen. JANUARY FIFTHTable of Contents Stephen Decatur born 1779.Robert Morrison born 1782.Thomas Pringle born 1789.Let me go where'er I will, I hear a sky-born music still: It sounds from all things old, It sounds from all things young, From all that's fair, from all that's foul, Peals out a cheerful song. It is not only in the rose, It is not only in the bird, Not only where the rainbow glows, Nor in the song of woman heard, But in the darkest, meanest things There alway, alway something sings. 'Tis not in the high stars alone, Nor in the cup of budding flowers, Nor in the redbreast's mellow tone, Nor in the bow that smiles in showers, But in the mud and scum of things There alway, alway something sings. —Ralph Waldo Emerson. The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament showeth his handiwork. —Psalm 19. 1. Almighty God, grant that my life may no longer be a noise, but be kept in tune with the sublimest melodies, that wherever I am, there may be no discords in the songs of my soul. Through thy loving-kindness may my songs resound. Amen. JANUARY SIXTHTable of Contents 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