Mary Wilder Tileston - Daily Strength for Daily Needs

In my cup of blessing be,

I would have my spirit filled the more

With grateful love to Thee—

More careful—not to serve Thee much,

But to please Thee perfectly.

Little things come daily, hourly, within our reach, and they are not less calculated to set forward our growth in holiness, than are the greater occasions which occur but rarely. Moreover, fidelity in trifles, and an earnest seeking to please God in little matters, is a test of real devotion and love. Let your aim be to please our dear Lord perfectly in little things, and to attain a spirit of childlike simplicity and dependence. In proportion as self-love and self-confidence are weakened, and our will bowed to that of God, so will hindrances disappear, the internal troubles and contests which harassed the soul vanish, and it will be filled with peace and tranquillity.

February 17

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations [or "trials"], knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience .—JAMES i. 2, 3.

For patience, when the rough winds blow!

For patience, when our hopes are fading—

When visible things all backward go,

And nowhere seems the power of aiding!

God still enfolds thee with His viewless hand,

And leads thee surely to the Fatherland.

N. L. FROTHINGHAM, from the German .

We have need of patience with ourselves and with others; with those below, and those above us, and with our own equals; with those who love us and those who love us not; for the greatest things and for the least; against sudden inroads of trouble, and under our daily burdens; disappointments as to the weather, or the breaking of the heart; in the weariness of the body, or the wearing of the soul; in our own failure of duty, or others' failure toward us; in every-day wants, or in the aching of sickness or the decay of age; in disappointment, bereavement, losses, injuries, reproaches; in heaviness of the heart; or its sickness amid delayed hopes. In all these things, from childhood's little troubles to the martyr's sufferings, patience is the grace of God, whereby we endure evil for the love of God.

February 18

It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes .—PS. cxix. 71.

But though He cause grief yet will He have compassion, according to the multitude of His mercies .—LAM. iii. 32.

And yet these days of dreariness are sent us from above;

They do not come in anger, but in faithfulness and love;

They come to teach us lessons which bright ones could not yield,

And to leave us blest and thankful when their purpose is fulfilled.

Heed not distressing thoughts when they rise ever so strongly in thee; nay, though they have entered thee, fear them not, but be still awhile, not believing in the power which thou feelest they have over thee, and it will fall on a sudden. It is good for thy spirit, and greatly to thy advantage, to be much and variously exercised by the Lord. Thou dost not know what the Lord hath already done, and what He is yet doing for thee therein.

Why should I start at the plough of my Lord, that maketh deep furrows on my soul? I know He is no idle husbandman, He purposeth a crop.

February 19

My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work .—JOHN iv. 34.

I am glad to think

I am not bound to make the world go right;

But only to discover and to do,

With cheerful heart, the work that God appoints.

I will trust in Him,

That He can hold His own; and I will take

His will, above the work He sendeth me,

To be my chiefest good.

Don't object that your duties are so insignificant; they are to be reckoned of infinite significance, and alone important to you. Were it but the more perfect regulation of your apartments, the sorting-away of your clothes and trinkets, the arranging of your papers—"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might," and all thy worth and constancy. Much more, if your duties are of evidently higher, wider scope; if you have brothers, sisters, a father, a mother, weigh earnestly what claim does lie upon you, on behalf of each, and consider it as the one thing needful, to pay them more and more honestly and nobly what you owe. What matter how miserable one is, if one can do that? That is the sure and steady disconnection and extinction of whatsoever miseries one has in this world.

February 20

Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling-block, or an occasion to fall, in his brother's way .—ROM. xiv. 13.

Them that were entering in, ye hindered .—LUKE xi. 52.

My mind was ruffled with small cares to-day,

And I said pettish words, and did not keep

Long-suffering patience well, and now how deep

My trouble for this sin! in vain I weep

For foolish words I never can unsay.

A vexation arises, and our expressions of impatience hinder others from taking it patiently. Disappointment, ailment, or even weather depresses us; and our look or tone of depression hinders others from maintaining a cheerful and thankful spirit. We say an unkind thing, and another is hindered in learning the holy lesson of charity that thinketh no evil. We say a provoking thing, and our sister or brother is hindered in that day's effort to be meek. How sadly, too, we may hinder without word or act! For wrong feeling is more infectious than wrong doing; especially the various phases of ill temper—gloominess, touchiness, discontent, irritability—do we not know how catching these are?

February 21

If ye then, being evil, know bow to give good gifts unto your children, bow much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good gifts to them that ask Him ?—MATT. vii. 11.

For His great love has compassed

Our nature, and our need

We know not; but He knoweth,

And He will bless indeed.

Therefore, O heavenly Father,

Give what is best to me;

And take the wants unanswered,

As offerings made to Thee.

Whatsoever we ask which is not for our good, He will keep it back from us. And surely in this there is no less of love than in the granting what we desire as we ought. Will not the same love which prompts you to give a good, prompt you to keep back an evil, thing? If, in our blindness, not knowing what to ask, we pray for things which would turn in our hands to sorrow and death, will not our Father, out of His very love, deny us? How awful would be our lot, if our wishes should straightway pass into realities; if we were endowed with a power to bring about all that we desire; if the inclinations of our will were followed by fulfilment of our hasty wishes, and sudden longings were always granted. One day we shall bless Him, not more for what He has granted than for what He has denied.

February 22

Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God .—PHIL. iv. 6.

We tell Thee of our care,

Of the sore burden, pressing day by day,

And in the light and pity of Thy face,

The burden melts away.

We breathe our secret wish,

The importunate longing which no man may see;