Be Strong to Achieve
Be strong!
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift,
We have hard work to do, and loads to lift.
Shun not the struggle; face it. ‘Tis God’s gift.
Be strong!
Say not the days are evil,—Who’s to blame?
And fold the hands and acquiesce,—O shame!
Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God’s name.
Be strong!
It matters not how deep entrenched the wrong,
How hard the battle goes, the day, how long.
Faint not, fight on! To-morrow comes the song.
—M. D. Babcock.
Earnestness
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute
What you can do, or dream you can; begin it;
Boldness has genius, power, magic in it.
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated;
Begin and then the work will be completed.
—Johann W. Von Goethe.
Kinship to God
Poor vaunt of life indeed,
Were man but formed to feed
On joy, to solely seek and find and feast;
Such feasting ended, then
As sure an end to me;
Irks care the crop-full bird? Frets doubt the maw-crammed beast?
Rejoice we are allied
To That which doth provide
And not partake, effect and not receive!
A spark disturbs our clod;
Nearer we hold to God
Who give, than of His tribes that take, I must believe.
—Robert Browning
Alternate Reading: Romans 12:1-21.