Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon,
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
By Mary Wilder Tileston
Selected by the Editor of "Joy and Strength for the Pilgrim's Day,""Quiet Hours," etc.
"As thy days, so shall thy strength be"
This little book of brief selections in prose and verse, with accompanyingtexts of Scripture, is intended for a daily companion and counsellor. Thesewords of the goodly fellowship of wise and holy men of many times, it ishoped may help to strengthen the reader to perform the duties and to bearthe burdens of each day with cheerfulness and courage.
January 1
They go from strength to strength.—PS. lxxxiv. 7.
First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in theear.—MARK. iv. 28.
Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!
High hearts are never long without hearing some new call, some distantclarion of God, even in their dreams; and soon they are observed to breakup the camp of ease, and start on some fresh march of faithful service.And, looking higher still, we find those who never wait till their moralwork accumulates, and who reward resolution with no rest; with whom,therefore, the alternation is instantaneous and constant; who do the goodonly to see the better, and see the better only to achieve it; who are toomeek for transport, too faithful for remorse, too earnest for repose; whoseworship is action, and whose action ceaseless aspiration.
January 2
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this timeforth, and even for evermore.—PS. cxxi. 8.
Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.—PS. xc. 1.
With grateful hearts the past we own;
The future, all to us unknown,
We to Thy guardian care commit,
And peaceful leave before Thy feet.
We are like to Him with whom there is no past or future, with whom a day isas a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, when we do our workin the great present, leaving both past and future to Him to whom they areever present, and fearing nothing, because He is in our future as much asHe is in our past, as much as, and far more than we can feel Him to be, inour present. Partakers thus of the divine nature, resting in that perfectAll-in-all in whom our nature is eternal too, we walk without fear, full ofhope and courage and strength to do His will, waiting for the endless goodwhich He is always giving as fast as He can get us able to take it in.
January 3
As thy days, so shall thy strength be.—DEUT. xxxiii. 25.
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.—MATT. vi. 34.
Oh, ask not thou, How shall I bear