This Day is Thine
This day is thine, a shining gift from Heaven,
Gleaned for thy use from treasuries of time,
Given in trust to hold until the even,
This day is thine, a sacred charge sublime.
This day is thine, to be what thou shalt make it,
Hidden in self or used in service fine;
When thou shalt bring it back to Him who gave it,
What will it be, this golden day of thine?
This day is thine, thy yesterdays are finished,
Soon will the present join the changeless past;
Will its bright hours be greater for thy keeping
Or by the dreaded rust of waste o'ercast?
This day is thine, there may be no tomorrows,
This day is thine from dawn till setting sun;
May thou at even, like a worthy steward,
Hear in thy heart the Master's words, "Well done."
-- Verna Whinery
Life
Forenoon and afternoon and night,--
And day is gone,--
So short a span of time there is
'Twixt dawn and evensong.
Youth,--Middle life,--Old age,--
And life is past,--
So live each day that God shall say,
"Well done!" at last.
-- Edward Rowland Sill
Our Life is Long
Our life is long. Not so, wise Angels say
Who watch us waste it, trembling while they weigh
Against eternity one squandered day.
Our life is long. Not so, the Saints protest,
Filled full of consolation and of rest:
`Short ill, long good, one long unending best.'
Our life is long. Christ's word sounds different:
`Night cometh: no more work when day is spent.'
Repent and work to-day, work and repent.
Lord make us like Thy Host who day nor night
Rest not from adoration, their delight,
Crying `Holy, Holy, Holy,' in the height.
Lord, make us like Thy Saints who wait and long
Contented: bound in hope and freed from wrong,
They speed (may be) their vigil with a song.
Lord, make us like Thyself; for thirty-three
Slow years of toil seemed not too long to Thee,
That where Thou art there Thy Beloved might be.
-- Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)
A Preacher's Urgency
I preached as never sure to preach again,
And as a dying man to dying men.
-- Richard Baxter (1615-1691)