SUNDAY TIDINGS

Again, here is an essay from the little book, JUST BE GLAD. As I said in an earlier post, this book was written in 1907 by Charles F. Raymond.

A Desire

May we grow. May our present by happy, and may the future be one of steady progress.
May we achieve.
May we lay in wait for opportunity, and recognize it when it passes.
May we spend much time on the foundations.
May we realize the majesty of the "I will."
May we understand that that which is worth having costs time, costs labor, and sometimes blood.
May we prepare for each day as a warrior who goes to battle, and may we greet it with a smile, yet with determination.
Give us ability, the ability of stability.
May we stick. May we grow.
May we cease comparing ourselves with those who are weak. Let us rather seek comparison with the giants of the land.
Then, when we see how very small we are, let us grow some more.
May we grow in manliness. May we trust.
May we do our best and leave it to Omnipotence, knowing that there is no chance.
Give us grit. Give us grace. Give us gumption.
Help us to get up early in the morning. Help us to work late at night.
Help us if necessary, to get dirty at our work, gracefully.
Keep us from being proud.
He was born in a manger.
Make us worthy to have a friend.
Let us hold our friendships sacred.
As we turn down the light each night, may we say "Now I have made some one just a little happier, I have made a child glad. I made mother smile, and my wife is pleased for I told her that I appreciate her. May we have some little memory to mark the day.
May we remember kindness.
May we be kind not for reward, but for the love of it.
May we greet each morn with the thought "I am mortal."
Make us successful.
Make us wise, and if it be Thy Will, make us great and rich and valiant.
But above all, make us humble.
He was born in a manger.
It might have taken place in a palace.
The angels did not rap up the nobles to let them know about it. God plays no favorites. There were no reserved seats to hear the chorus rehearsed in the skies 1907 years ago, for the shepherds heard the song.
So let us be humble to-night, to-morrow and throughout this pilgrimage until the very end.

There is a homily at the end of each essay as follows:

Nature reminds us that the dog will wag its tail, the cat will sing and the horse will neigh as we approach if we are only kind to them.
They do not forget kindness, and that is more than some of us can say.