Mary Wilder Tileston - Daily Strength for Daily Needs

For words of hope, and bright examples given

To shew through moonless skies that there is light in heaven.

If we cannot live at once and alone with Him, we may at least live with those who have lived with Him; and find, in our admiring love for their purity, their truth, their goodness, an intercession with His pity on our behalf. To study the lives, to meditate the sorrows, to commune with the thoughts, of the great and holy men and women of this rich world, is a sacred discipline, which deserves at least to rank as the forecourt of the temple of true worship, and may train the tastes, ere we pass the very gate, of heaven. We forfeit the chief source of dignity and sweetness in life, next to the direct communion with God, if we do not seek converse with the greater minds that have left their vestiges on the world.

Do not think it wasted time to submit yourself to any influence which may bring upon you any noble feeling.

January 7

The exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power .—EPH. i. 19.

The lives which seem so poor, so low,

The hearts which are so cramped and dull,

The baffled hopes, the impulse slow,

Thou takest, touchest all, and lo!

They blossom to the beautiful.

A root set in the finest soil, in the best climate, and blessed with all that sun and air and rain can do for it, is not in so sure a way of its growth to perfection, as every man may be, whose spirit aspires after all that which God is ready and infinitely desirous to give him. For the sun meets not the springing bud that stretches towards him with half that certainty, as God, the source of all good, communicates Himself to the soul that longs to partake of Him.

If we stand in the openings of the present moment, with all the length and breadth of our faculties unselfishly adjusted to what it reveals, we are in the best condition to receive what God is always ready to communicate.

January 8

As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men .—GAL. vi. 10.

Let brotherly love continue .—HEB. xiii. 1.

I Ask Thee for a thoughtful love,

Through constant watching wise,

To meet the glad with joyful smiles,

And to wipe the weeping eyes,

And a heart at leisure from itself,

To soothe and sympathize.

Surely none are so full of cares, or so poor in gifts, that to them also, waiting patiently and trustfully on God for His daily commands, He will not give direct ministry for Him, increasing according to their strength and their desire. There is so much to be set right in the world, there are so many to be led and helped and comforted, that we must continually come in contact with such in our daily life. Let us only take care, that, by the glance being turned inward, or strained onward, or lost in vacant reverie, we do not miss our turn of service, and pass by those to whom we might have been sent on an errand straight from God.

Look up and not down; look forward and not back; look out and not in; and lend a hand.

January 9

And in every work that be began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered .—2 CHRON. xxxi. 21.

What, shall we do, that we might work the works of God ?—JOHN vi. 28.

Give me within the work which calls to-day,

To see Thy finger gently beckoning on;

So struggle grows to freedom, work to play,

And toils begun from Thee to Thee are done.

God is a kind Father. He sets us all in the places where He wishes us to be employed; and that employment is truly "our Father's business." He chooses work for every creature which will be delightful to them, if they do it simply and humbly. He gives us always strength enough, and sense enough, for what He wants us to do; if we either tire ourselves or puzzle ourselves, it is our own fault. And we may always be sure, whatever we are doing, that we cannot be pleasing Him, if we are not happy ourselves.

January 10

Because Thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee .—PS. lxiii. 3.

Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it .—LUKE xvii. 33.

O Lord! my best desires fulfil,

And help me to resign

Life, health, and comfort, to Thy will,

And make Thy pleasure mine.

What do our heavy hearts prove but that other things are sweeter to us than His will, that we have not attained to the full mastery of our true freedom, the full perception of its power, that our sonship is yet but faintly realized, and its blessedness not yet proved and known? Our consent would turn all our trials into obedience. By consenting we make them our own, and offer them with ourselves again to Him.

Nothing is intolerable that is necessary. Now God hath bound thy trouble upon thee, with a design to try thee, and with purposes to reward and crown thee. These cords thou canst not break; and therefore lie thou down gently, and suffer the hand of God to do what He please.

January 11

I will be glad, and rejoice in Thy mercy: for Thou hast considered my trouble; Thou hast known my soul in adversities .—PS. xxxi. 7.

Nay, all by Thee is ordered, chosen, planned;

Each drop that fills my daily cup Thy hand

Prescribes, for ills none else can understand:

All, all is known to Thee.

God knows us through and through. Not the most secret thought, which we most hide from ourselves, is hidden from Him. As then we come to know ourselves through and through, we come to see ourselves more as God sees us, and then we catch some little glimpse of His designs with us, how each ordering of His Providence, each check to our desires, each failure of our hopes, is just fitted for us, and for something in our own spiritual state, which others know not of, and which, till then, we knew not. Until we come to this knowledge, we must take all in faith, believing, though we know not, the goodness of God towards us. As we know ourselves, we, thus far, know God.

January 12

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer .—PS. xix. 14.

The thoughts that in our hearts keep place,

Lord, make a holy, heavenly throng,

And steep in innocence and grace

The issue of each guarded tongue.

There is another kind of silence to be cultivated, besides that of the tongue as regards others. I mean silence as regards one's self—restraining the imagination, not permitting it to dwell overmuch on what we have heard or said, not indulging in the phantasmagoria of picture-thoughts, whether of the past or future. Be sure that you have made no small progress in the spiritual life, when you can control your imagination, so as to fix it on the duty and occupation actually existing, to the exclusion of the crowd of thoughts which are perpetually sweeping across the mind. No doubt, you cannot prevent those thoughts from arising, but you can prevent yourself from dwelling on them; you can put them aside, you can check the self-complacency, or irritation, or earthly longings which feed them, and by the practice of such control of your thoughts you will attain that spirit of inward silence which draws the soul into a close intercourse with God.