Do not fret because of evil people or be envious of wicked people,

[Prov 24:19 NET]

The heart which boldly faces death
Upon the battlefield, and dares
Cannon and bayonet, faints beneath
The needle-points of frets and cares.
The stoutest spirits they dismay—
The tiny stings of every day.

Ah! more than martyr’s aureole
And more than hero’s heart of fire,
We need the humble strength of soul
Which daily toils and ills require.
Sweet patience, grant us, if you may
An added grace for every day.
~ Adelaide A. Procter ~

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea.
~ Alfred Tennyson ~

My Father, I pray that I may not be dismayed over life, and its trifles. Help me to master difficulties great and small, and give me patience through all until I reach the untroubled way. Amen.

But he must ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind. since he is a double-minded individual, unstable in all his ways.

[Jas 1:6,8 NET]

Unless there is a predominating and overmastering purpose to which all the accessories and incidents of life contribute, the character will be weak, irresolute, uncertain.

~ Frances E. Willard ~

Life is not an idle ore,

But iron dug from central gloom,

And heated hot with burning fears,

And dipt in baths of hissing tears,

And battered with the shocks of doom

To shape and use.

~ Alfred Tennyson ~

O God, help me to be positive. May I not want to be in so many places, and in so many things, that I can never be found in anything. Help me to know that a purpose secured is worth many attempts, and that to have a character I must build it. Amen.

Do not forsake your friend and your father’s friend, and do not enter your brother’s house in the day of your disaster; a neighbor nearby is better than a brother far away.

[Prov 27:10 NET]

In the hour of distress and misery the eye of every mortal turns to friendship; in the hour of gladness and conviviality, what is your want? It is friendship. When the heart overflows with gratitude or with other sweet and sacred sentiment, what is the word to which it would give utterance? A friend.

~ Walter Savage Landor ~

The hurried quest of some people to get hold of new friends is so perpetual that they never have time to get acquainted with anyone.

~ M.B.S. ~

My Lord and my Friend, I pray that my sympathy may be sincere and comforting, and with a glad heart I may bring rejoicing to my friends. May I learn from thee how I may be a permanent friend. Amen.

The one who steals must steal no longer; rather he must labor, doing good with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with the one who has need.

[Eph 4:28 NET]

Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires, but according to our powers.

~ Amiel ~

How good is man’s life, the mere living! how fit to employ All the heart and the soul and the senses for ever in joy!

~ Robert Browning ~

Do something! No man is born with a mortgage on his soul; but every man is born a debtor to Time. Meet this obligation before you find too late that your life is impoverished and you cannot redeem it.

~ M.B.S. ~

My Father, what I have left out of my life I know I cannot recover now. I pray that I may give the best to what is left. Make me deliberate, that I may prove my earnestness. Make me industrious, that I may use my best resources to develop my life and further thy kingdom. Amen.