GRAINS OF GOLD

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1, 7 January 1909, Page 3

GRAINS OF GOLD

MY PBAYER.

My Lord, my ; God, I love Thee well, My every grief to Thee I tell, To Thy true Heart alone I bear My every wish, my every care. Exert, O Lord ! Thy tender sway, And, Saviour, teach "me how to' pray. Let me not lay before Thy shrine A thought or wish that is not Thine. Let me not strive, all vainly still, To bend to mine Thy sovereign will. But, when I come to Thee tb-day, Dear Saviour, teach me how to pray.

Press Thy soft touch upon my soul, I crave Thy sweet and wise control, Unto my eager lips be given The prayer tnat finds its rest in heaven. Let me not turn, unheard, away,/ " - Dear Saviour, teach me how to pray.

-'—Sister M. Gertrude."

To live content with small means, to seek elegant simplicity, rather than luxury ; to be worthy, respectable, and refined rather than fashionable and rich ; to listen to the stars and birds and flowers, and to the babes and sages with an open heart; to study hard and think quietly; to bear all cheorfully — do all bravely and await occasion — never hurrying and never speaking ill of another — in a word, -to let the spiritual, unbidden, and unconscious possibilities grow up to the common, every-day duty — this ■ should be the symphony of every true woman's life. You owe a duty to the public; your rank and position have decided that for you. It is your vocation, and sins against the state of life in which God has placed us are the most inexcusable; you .bury your talent; the misapplied expenditure of energy each' day which is ruining you now, would be sufficient to pay all your true debts to God and .man. You' must also be sociable, friendly with persons worthy of your friendship, useful to society, full* of discretion and foresight, well-inforn_-ed about public affairs, and known to be so. — Fenelon. Neither the noise of the city nor the quiet of the country can bring happiness or destroy happiness. AH these things may " contribute to happiness within', him, but the germ of true happiness is originally within. The spark of that life which is the source of happiness is bred within the soul of man. It cannot be moved to act by any external indulgence or ill. The work must be done within. Health and wealth and fame may "increase man's opportunities for usefulness in this world, but they will never of themselves produce happiness. The secret of happiness lies deeper than earthly possessions, poor health, .. or mental training. Real happiness lies deeper than all \ these.