First Lines

Strength and Beauty

 

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Chapter 1: Strength and Beauty

I said, I’ll gaze upon my Lord
J.W.M.
 
I were so glad to be just what himself has been
 

Chapter 2: The Christian and His Rights

Life is too short for any bitter feeling
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Chapter 3: The Voice of Strangers

Feeling the way—and all the way up hill
 
He came in winter’s frost and snow
 
He took full measure of the grief
 

Chapter 4: “Sweet Will of God”

I worship thee, sweet Will of God
F.W. Faber
 
Yet more and more this truth doth shine
 
I ran at his commands,
 

Chapter 5: Finding One’s Soul

Like children in a garden fair
 

Chapter 6: Not for Self But Christ

Lord, we would fain some little palm branch lay
Susan Coolidge
 
Give me the lowest place; not that I dare
 
The eagle nestles near the sun
 
Of the thousand hours me meeting
 

Chapter 7: Being a Branch

Tis but little I can do
 

Chapter 8: Shallow Lives

The wind that blows can never kill
Lillie E Barr
 

Chapter 9: Crowding Out the Good

Be not too busy with thy work and care
Olive E. Dana
 
Let nothing make thee sad or fretful,
 

Chapter 10: Things to Leave Undone

I am glad to think
Jean Ingelow
 

Chapter 11: Its Fruit in Its Season

He who plants a tree
Lucy Larcom
 
What does he plant who plants a tree?
In one of the Psalms
 

Chapter 12: The True Religion

Religion’s all or nothing; it is no mere smile
Robert Browning
 
What hand and brain went ever paired?
 
They who tread the path of labor follow where my feet have trod;
 

Chapter 13: The Beauty of the Imperfect

Thank God for failure, shattered hopes, lost aims,
 
If all our life were one broad glare
 

Chapter 14: How to Meet Temptation

Why comes temptation but for man to meet
Robert Browning
 
Put pain from out the world, what room were left
 

Chapter 15: At the Full Price

Only a life of barren pain
Henry Van Dyke
 
Will you seek it? Will you brave it?
 

Chapter 16: The Blessing of Hardness

Then welcome each rebuff
Robert Browning
 
One who never turned his back, but marched breast forward
Robert Browning
 

Chapter 17: The Ministry of Hindrances

“O life, so full of storm and stress,
 
Why comes temptation but for man to meet
Robert Browning
 
God keeps a niche In heaven to hold our idols; and albeit
Elizabeth Browning
 
He lends not; but gives to the end,
Elizabeth Browning
Curl
 

Chapter 18: In Time of Defeat

“Have you missed in your aim? Well, the mark is still shining;
Ellu Wheelar Wilcose
 
“He lost the game: no matter for that—
 
Noble souls, through dust and heat,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
 

Chapter 19: The Duty of Fault-Finding

For this true nobleness I seek in vain, In woman and in man
 

Chapter 20: The Duty of Laughter

It is easy enough to be pleasant
 
Why make we moan For loss that doth enrich us, yet
 
I woke in the night; the stars were hid
 

Chapter 21: Minding the Rests

Thou, Lord, art the Father of music
F.W. Faber
 
In every life
One writes
 
In the grand oratorios of life

Chapter 22: The Cure of Weariness

If we believed, we should arise and sing
 
I wish that when you died last May
 
No more going out forever
 

Chapter 23: Judged as We Judge

Not understood. We gather false impressions
 
In ourselves the sunshine dwell
 
If we knew the cares and trials
 

Chapter 24: Every Day an Easter

In Christ I touch the hand of God
Lucy Larcom
 
These ashes, too, this little dust
 
God placed a duty in my hand;
 
When bursts the rose of the spirit
 

Chapter 25: The Sacredness of Opportunity

The day is done; its hours have run,
F.W. Faber
 
Their advent is as silent as their going;
 
Never comes the chance that passed;
 
I was not resolute in heart and will
 
When I have time, the friend I love so well
 
Turn thy face unto the wall,
 

 

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