_You who are praying for the Christ’s return_ _And for the coming of the Promised Day_, _How is it in the four walls of your home_ _The while you pray_? Are you trying to make your home a reflection of what you believe heaven will be? Unless you are you will never find heaven anywhere; The foundations of our heavenly mansions must first be built on earth. Unless you are striving to put in use some of the angelic virtues here and now, No angelhood will be accorded you hereafter. Unless you are illustrating your desire for peace by a peaceful, love-ruled home, You have no right to clamour for a cessation of hostilities among nations; Nations are only chains of individuals. When each individual expresses nothing but love and peace in his daily life, there will be no more war. _You who are loudly crying out for peace_, _You who are wanting love to vanquish hate_, _How is it in the four walls of your home_ _The while you wait_? ‘LET US GIVE THANKS’ For the courage which comes when we call, While troubles like hailstones fall; For the help that is somehow nigh, In the deepest night when we cry; For the path that is certainly shown When we pray in the dark alone, Let us give thanks. For the knowledge we gain if we wait And bear all the buffets of fate; For the vision that beautifies sight If we look under wrong for the right; For the gleam of the ultimate goal That shines on each reverent soul: Let us give thanks. For the consciousness stirring in creeds That love is the thing the world needs; For the cry of the travailing earth That is giving a new faith birth; For the God we are learning to find In the heart and the soul and the mind: Let us give thanks. For the growth of the spirit through pain, Like a plant in the soil and the rain; For the dropping of needless things Which the sword of a sorrow brings; For the meaning and purpose of life Which dawns on us out of the strife: Let us give thanks. For the solace that comes to our grief In knowing earth’s season is brief; For the certitude given by faith Of the continents out beyond death; For the glorious thought that each day Is speeding us the reward away: Let us give thanks. THE BLACK SHEEP ‘_Black sheep_, _black sheep_, _have you any wool_?’ _Yes_, _sir_—_yes_, _sir_: _three bags full_.’