Loving Father, I bless thee for thy love and ministry. May I enter into a broader conception of sharing thy gifts. May I not seek thy blessings to keep, but to use for renewed inspiration. Amen. APRIL SEVENTH Saint Francis Xavier born 1506. William Wordsworth born 1770. William Ellery Channing born 1780. My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! The child is Father of the Man; And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety. --William Wordsworth. A self-controlled mind is a free mind, and freedom is power. I call that mind free which jealously guards its intellectual rights and powers. I call that mind free which resists the bondage of habit, which does not live on its old virtues, but forgets what is behind, and rejoices to pour itself forth in fresh and higher exertions. --William Ellery Channing. That ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth. --Ephesians 4. 23, 24. Lord God, give me the power to control my mind and heart, that I may not be a slave to habits that may keep me from eternal love and blessedness. May I have sympathy and compassion for others, and cherish thy tenderness and mercy as I hold it in my daily life. Amen. APRIL EIGHTH Petrarch crowned 1341. William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, born 1580. David Rittenhouse born 1732. If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life from aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain. --Emily Dickinson. The most solid comfort one can fall back upon is the thought that the business of one's life is to help in some small way to reduce the sum of ignorance, degradation, and misery on the face of this beautiful earth. --George Eliot. Make full my joy, that ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; doing nothing through faction or through vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself. --Philippians 2. 2, 3. My Father, take away the spirit, if I may be inclined to keep the best, and to be always seeking my portion. May I have the desire to share with those who have less, and to give to those who may have more, whether it be of bread or love. Amen. APRIL NINTH Fisher Ames born 1758. John Opie died 1807. Dante Gabriel Rossetti died 1882. Gather a shell from the strown beach And listen at its lips; they sigh The same desire and mystery, The echo of the whole sea's speech. And all mankind is this at heart-- Not anything but what thou art: And Earth, Sea, Man are all in each.