Loving Father, help me to foresee that it is what I care for to-day that determines how I will find old age. May I not bring my closing years to weariness and lonesomeness, but may I have the restfulness that comes with communing with thee. Amen.
Charles George Gordon (Chinese Gordon) born 1833.
He only is advancing in life whose heart is getting softer, whose blood warmer, whose brain quicker, and whose spirit is entering into living peace. And the men who have this life in them are the true lords and kings of the earth--they, and they only.
Just where you stand in the conflict, There is your place! Just where you think you are useless, Hide not your face! God placed you there for a purpose, What e'er it be; Think you he has chosen you for it: Work loyally.
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!
My Father, I thank thee that thou hast endowed me with a will; help me to use it aright. May I have the knowledge of what thou dost demand of my soul, that I may do my best with what thou hast given me. Help me that I may reach out for the highest ideals of life. Amen.
William McKinley, Ohio, twenty-fourth President United States, born 1843.
God will keep no nation in supreme place that will not do supreme duty.
Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and the angels know of us.
The reward of one duty is the power to fulfill another.
Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, Upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself. So shall we not go back from thee: Quicken thou us, and we will call upon thy name.
My Father, I pray that I may be just and be given to kindness. May I be conscious of my virtues, and use them to overcome my faults. May I hear clearly thy call that I may be sure of the way as I lead others to duty and happiness. Amen.
Why, why repine, my pensive friend, At pleasures slipped away? Some the stern fates will never lend, And all refuse to stay. I see the rainbow in the sky, The dew upon the grass; I see them and I ask not why They glimmer or they pass. With folded arms I linger not To call them back; 'twere vain; In this, or in some other spot, I know they'll shine again.