Help Me

Help me to fin someone today
Who needs what I have to share -
A kindly word, a thoughtful deed,
A bit of loving care.
Help me to take the time to be
An understanding friend
To someone who needs a helping hand
On which they can depend.
Help me to love as Jesus loves -
That same unselfish way.
Help me to be like Jesus
In all that I do and say.

~ Vera Beall Parker

Life Is Worth Living

Life is worth living

Wherever you are,

Deep down in a dungeon

Or high on a star.

Life is worth living;

It all has a plan

When God knows you're giving

The best that you can.

The saint and the sinner,

The great and the small,

We all are God's children

And he loves us all.

So pray when you're happy

And pray when you're blue,

For life is worth living

When God lives with you.

~ Nick Kenny

Only Trust Him

God knows your secret longings,

He knows your silent tears,

and even within the shadows

His hand is on your fears.

Wen your head is on the pillow

in the wee hours past midnight,

just trust that God is with you

somewhere within your room this night:

Watching, never sleeping,

He tends your fragile care,

and in the quiet hours a vigil keeping

He breaths for you a prayer.

Just trust Him for the answers

that a questioning heart can't give,

for God holds your every tomorrow

knowing your "each today" is His.

~ Roxie Lusk Smith

Dream Dreams

Dream dreams of real compassion
And the joys your dreams could bring.
Dream dreams of their fulfillment
And the sad you helped to sing.
Then think of ways of making
These good dreams to come true.
The good Lord needs more dreamers
Yes, the Lord has need of you.

He needs your hands to minister
To the sick and insecure,
Your life to be a sermon
How to love and to endure,
He needs your voice to tell men
The humble Gospel story
And to spread abroad the knowledge
Of his great love and glory.

~ Sister Mary Gemme Brunke

Deeper

Let me try a little harder

Let me pray a little more

Let me go a little farther

Than I've ever gone before

Let me sing instead of sighing

As I pass beneath the rod

Let my life burn out for others

Less of self and more of God.

Let me see the ones about me

Hungry for the peace I know

And the spirit of my Savior

Father let me ever show

Let me lift the one who's fallen

Help the lame upon the way

Soothe the weary, calm the suffering

Knowing thou wilt come someday

Others, Lord, yes others

Let this my motto be

Help me to live for others

That I may be like Thee.

~ Nellie Martin

Life's Adventure

Life is a great adventure,

Each day a new surprise,

So sweep the cobwebs from your heart,

And open up your eyes.

Sorrow flees the sunlight,

So throw the windows wide,

And watch the brightness flooding in,

Warm everything inside.

Life is a great adventure,

For those who would explore,

The road wings upward and the wind

Taps lightly at the door.

And should the day be cloudy,

No reason to complain,

When trees along the avenue,

Are singing in the rain.

Life is a great adventure,

Each day that passes by,

A dazzling panorama

As broad as it is high.

Beyond all comprehension,

The wonder of the spheres,

When one by one the ours make

A ladder of the years.

~ Grace E. Easley

Just For Today

Lord, for tomorrow and its needs,

I do not pray;

Keep me, my God, from stain of sin,

Just for today;

Let me no wrong or idle word

Unthinking say:

Set Thou a seal upon my lips,

Just for today.

Let me both diligently work,

And duly pray;

Let me be kind in word and deed,

Just for today;

Let me in season, Lord, be grave,

In seasons, gay;

Let me be faithful to Thy grace,

Just for today.

In pain and sorrow's cleansing fires,

Brief be my stay;

Oh, bid me if to-day I die,

Come home to-day;

So, for to-morrow and its needs,

I do not pray;

But keep me, guide me, love me, Lord,

Just for to-day.

~ Sybil F. Partridge

Tell Him So

If you hear a kind word spoken

Of some worthy soul you know,

It may fill his heart with sunshine

If you only tell him so.

If a deed, however humble,

Helps you on your way to go,

Seek the one whose hand has helped you,

Seek him out and tell him so!

If your heart is touched and tender

Toward a sinner, lost and low,

It might help him to do better

If you'd only tell him so!

Oh my sisters, oh, my brothers,

As over life's rough path you go,

If God's love has saved and kept you

Do not fail to tell men so!

Today

My life is a gift of God given, not in years,

but a day at a time. Today is the day the

Lord has made for me, and He planned it to

be the most important day of my life.

Yesterday is gone, never to return. I must

not worry about it, but leave it in the hands

of God. Tomorrow and all that it holds is

God's secret and its coming is not assured.

Only today is mine. Each day, arranged by

God with infinite wisdom and goodness is

His gift, His act of love for me. In thanks-

giving I will offer Him every day the gift of

myself - my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings.

Dear Lord, receive it graciously.

God Bless You

I seed in prayerful words, dear friend,

My heart's true wish to send you,

That you may know that, far or near,

My loving thoughts attend you.

I cannot find a truer word,

Nor better to address you;

Nor song, nor poem have I heard

Is sweeter than God bless you!

God bless you! So I've wished you all

Of brightness life possesses;

For can there any joy at all

Be yours unless God blesses?

And so, "through all thy days

May shadows touch thee never -"

But this alone: God bless thee

Then art thou safe forever.

Worth While

It is easy enough to be pleasant,
When life flows by like a song,
But the man worth while is one who will smile,
When everything goes dead wrong.
For the test of the heart is trouble,
And it always comes with the years,
And the smile that is worth the praises of earth
Is the smile that shines through tears.

It is easy enough to be prudent,
When nothing tempts you to stray,
When without or within no voice of sin
Is luring your soul away;
But it's only a negative virtue
Until it is tried by fire,
And the life that is worth the honor on earth
Is the one that resists desire.

By the cynic, the sad, the fallen,
Who had no strength for the strife,
The world's highway is cumbered today;
They make up the sum of life.
But the virtue that conquers passion,
And the sorrow that hides in a smile,
It is these that are worth the homage on earth
For we find them but once in a while.

~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Home

Home is where the heart is,
you have often heard it said.
Home is where the songbirds sing
their sweetest, overhead.

Home is like the rainbow's end
that beckons in the blue.
Home is where your brightest dreams
take root and all come true.

And yet it's more than just a place
where people sleep and eat.
A home that's real and has something
indefinable and sweet.

It may be just a cottage
or a castle with a dome,
But if God dwells within its walls
it really is a Home!

~ Nick Kenny

God's Voice

I hear God's voice in the gentle rain

That softly falls on my window pane.

I hear God's voice in the wind that blows

O'er fragrant meadows and winter snows.

I hear God's voice in the heaving sea,

In song of wind and in hum of bee.

I hear God's voice in the hush of night;

At evening's close and noon's bright light.

I hear God's voice in all mankind,

In childhood's laughter, in gifted mind.

I hear God's voice in the frail and old,

In the strong and vibrant - we make one fold.

The voice speaks ever of peace and love,

Of joy unending in Heaven above.

God made this earth for our delight;

Let us sing His praise by day and night.

~ Rev. Thomas Foy

Day by Day

Day by day my Shepherd walks beside me;

Day by day I know His tender care.

And I know whatever shall betide me,

Christ my Lord goes wit me ev'rywhere.

Midst life's storms and through deepest valley,

His abiding Presence goes before.

I'm assured whatever shall befall me,

His rich grace my courage shall restore.

Day by day my Saviour's love surrounds me,

Day by day communion sweet is mine.

And darkest night shall not confound me,

When I walk with Christ my Lord divine.

~ Kathryn T. Bowsher

Prayer

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,

Forgive our foolish ways!
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,

In purer lives Thy service find,

In deeper reverence, praise.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,

Till all our strivings cease;

take from our souls the strain and stress,

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy peace.

~ John Greenleaf Whittier