***
Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars ;
To be satisfied with your possessions but not content with yourself until you have made the best of them;
To despise nothing in the world except falsehood and meanness ,and to fear nothing except cowardice
To be governed by your admirations rather than by your disgusts ;
To covet nothing that is your neighbor’s except his kindness of heart and gentleness of manners ;
To think seldom of your enemies ,often of your friends ,and everyday of God ;
And to spend as much time as you can with body and spirit in God’s out – of –doors..
THESE ARE LITTLE GUIDEPATHS TO PEACE.
***
HOPE – FAITH – LOVE
Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime ;
therefore we must be saved by hope.
Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
therefore we must be saved by faith.
Nothing we do ,however virtuous ,can be accomplished alone ;
therefore we are saved by love .
No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint.
Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.
***
I Make the most of all that comes, The least of all that goes.
-Sara Teasdale ‘The Rainbow Garden
The Philosopher
I saw him sitting in his door,
Trembling as old men do;
His house was old; his barn was old,
And yet his eyes seemed new.
His eyes had seen three times my years
And kept a twinkle still,
Though they had looked at birth and death
And three graves on a hill.
“I will sit down with you,” I said,
“And you will make me wise;
Tell me how you have kept the joy
Still burning in your eyes.”
Then like an old-time orator
Impressively he rose;
“I make the most of all that comes,
The least of all that goes.”
The jingling rhythm of his words
Echoes as old songs do,
Yet this had kept his eyes alight
Till he was ninety-two
***
I recognize , of course , that any statement of belief from me is partly governed by the fact that I am old and in a decade or so, will be dead. In earlier years I should have expressed things differently. Now the prospect of death overshadows it all.
I am like a man on a sea voyage nearing his destination. When I embarked , I worried about having a cabin with a porthole, whether I should be asked to sit at the Captains table, who were the more attractive and important passengers…
All such considerations become pointless ,now that I shall soon disembark.
Since I do not believe that earthly life can bring lasting satisfaction, the prospect of death holds no terrors. But the world that I shall leave seems more beautiful than ever. Especially in its remoter parts ;grass and trees ,little streams and sloping hills ,;where the image of eternity is more clearly stamped than among streets and houses.
Those that I Love ,I can love ever more, Since I have nothing to ask of them but their Love. The passion to accumulate possessions or to be noticed and be important ,is now too evidently absurd to be entertained.
A sense of how extraordinarily happy I have been , and of enormous gratitude to my creator overwhelms me. I believe with a passionate unshakable conviction that life is a blessed gift; That the spirit which animates it ,is one of Love , not hate ; of Light ,not darkness.
Since I also believe that Life is benevolently , not malevolently conceived ,then I know that when these eyes see no more and this mind thinks no more ,and this hand now writing is inert , I shall find what lies beyond similarly benevolent.
IF THAT IS NOTHING ,THEN FOR THE NOTHINGNESS I OFFER THANKS . IF THAT IS ANOTHER MODE OF EXISTENCE ,THEN FOR THAT LIKEWISE , I OFFER THANKS.
Malcolm Muggeridge
****
Tell Him about the heartache
And tell Him the longings too ;
Tell him the baffled purpose
When we scarce know what to do.
Then leaving all our weakness
With the One divinely strong
Forget that we bore a burden
And carry away a song.
Phillips Brooks
****
HE paints the lily of the field,
Perfumes each lily bell
If HE so loves the little flower
I know HE loves me well.
Maria Straus
****
A Prayer
God ,give me sympathy and sense
And help me keep my courage high.
God, give me calm and confidence
And please——— a twinkle in my eye.
Margaret Bailey
****
Teach me your mood , O Patient stars !
Who climb each night the ancient sky.
Leaving on space no shade , no scars
No trace of age ,no fear to die.
Emerson
**
Because the way was steep and long ,
and through a strange and lonely land
God placed upon my lips a song ,
And put a lantern in my hand
Joyce Kilmer
****
Two Prayers:
Last night
my little boy confessed to me
some childish wrong;
And kneeling at my knee,
he prayed with tears—-
“Dear God, make me a man
Like Daddy- wise and strong;
I know you can.”
Then while he slept
I knelt beside his bed,
Confessed my sins,
And prayed with low-bowed head—
“Oh God, make me a child
Like my child here—-
Pure , guileless,
Trusting Thee with faith sincere”
Andrew Gilles
****
STRIVE TO BE HAPPY
(From an inscription in Old Saint Paul’s Church, Baltimore via Field Notes)
Go placidly amid the noise and haste ,and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, listen to others, even the dull and ignorant-they too have their story.
Avoid Loud and aggressive persons ,they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble. It is a real possession in the changing fortunes of Time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you for what virtue there is. Many persons strive for high ideals and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be Yourself .Especially do not feign affection .Neither be cynical about Love-for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is perennial, as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of the youth. Nurture the strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe, no less than the tress and the stars-you have a right to be here. And, whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore ,be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be careful .Strive to be happy
*****
AS A MAN SOWETH
We must not hope to be mowers
And to gather the ripe gold ears
Unless we have first been sowers
And watered the furrows with tears.
It is not just as we take it
This mystical world of ours
Life’s field will yield as we make it
A harvest of thorns or of Flowers.
Goethe
****
REGRET
I have wept in the night
For the shortness of sight
That to somebody’s need made me blind;
But I never have yet
Felt a tinge of regret
For being a little too kind.
*****
MY SYMPHONY
To live content with small means;
To seek elegance rather than luxury ,and refinement rather than fashion;
To be worthy ,not respectable , and wealthy ,not rich ;
To study hard ,think quietly ,talk gently,act frankly ;
To listen to stars and birds ,to babes and sages ,with open heart ;
To bear all cheerfully ,do all bravely ,await occasions ,hurry never.
In word ,to let the spiritual ,unbidden and unconscious, grow up through
the common.
This is to be my symphony.
William Ellery Channing
*****
A Creed
There is a destiny that makes us brothers ;
None goes his way alone :
All that we send into the lives of others
Come back into our own.
I care not what his temples or his creeds,
One thing holds firm and fast—-
That into his fateful heap of days and deeds
The soul of man is cast.
Edwin Markham
*****
The Noble Nature.
It is not growing like a tree ,
In bulk doth make Man better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last ,dry, bald , and sere :
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
Although it fall and die that night;
It was plant and flower of light.
In small proportions we just beauties see;
And in short measures life may perfect be.
B.Johnson
****
Before you Speak , Listen.
Before you write, think.
Before you spend , Earn.
Before you invest , investigate.
Before you criticize , Wait.
Before you pray, forgive.
Before you quit , Try.
Before you retire , Save.
Before you Die , Give.
William A Ward
****
Sign in a Football Club Dressing room:
For when the One great Scorer comes
To write against your name
He writes -not that you won or lost-
But how you played the game.
****
Where there is Charity and Wisdom,
There is neither fear nor ignorance.
Where there is patience and humility
There is neither anger nor vexation.
Where there is poverty and joy,
There is neither greed nor avarice.
Where there is peace or meditation
There is neither anxiety nor doubt.
St Francis of Assisi
**
The night has a thousand eyes
And the day but one ;
Yet the light of the bright world dies
With the dying Sun.
The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one ;
Yet the light of a whole Life dies
When Love is done.
Francis W.Bourdillon
****
Four Things.
Four things in any land must dwell,
If it endures and prospers well :
One is manhood true and good ;
One is noble womanhood ;
One is child life , clean and bright ;
And one an altar kept alight.
*****
A Sufi song
Sing a song of Glory, and you will be that Glory.
Nothing , are you , but a song ; And as you sing, You are.
You thought you were the teacher.
And you find you are the one who is taught.
You thought you were the seeker,
And you find you are the one who is sought.
Sing a song of Glory, and you will be that Glory.
Nothing , are you , but a song; And as you sing, You are.
rasAyana 
