DECEMBER FIRST
Reading edition
Dr. George Birkbeck died 1841.
Queen Alexandra born 1844.
R. W. Dale born 1829.
Ebenezer Elliott died 1849.
We would fill the hours with the sweetest things, If we had but a day: We should drink alone at the purest springs, In our upward way: We should guide our wayward or wearied will, By the clearest light: We should keep our eyes on the heavenly hills, If they lay in sight: We should be from our clamorous selves set free, To work and pray: And be what the Father would have us to be, If we had but a day. —Margaret E. Sangster.
Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
—Philippians 4. 8.
Gracious Father, help me to understand that my life grows out of what I put into my days. Forgive me for the unspoken words and the kind deeds which I kept for rare days, and had so few occasions to use. May I be as useful in kindness as I am in work, remembering that to thee every day is a golden day. Amen.