Questions & Answers

Were God not good to me, what would life mean? A round of hopeless days, of dreary care— My thought so filled with fear I might not dare Lift it above the sorrowful routine Of years that should be beautiful, serene. But God is good, and so my thought is free; His loving-kindness meets my every need; It wipes away the doubts of form and creed.

All day the crowd had followed him; And now the evening sky grew dim, And tender was his heart; One questioned him with anxious face; And in that barren, desert place He answered with a royal grace: They need not now depart. The hungering people heard him speak And silent grew, and strangely meek, At what they each did see— A meager basket, fish, and bread, A gratefully inclined head— And heard the words so sweetly said: Bring that ye have to me.

When through the power of prayer we wake to know Love, like the sunrise, fills the world with light And evil's seeming darkness is not might, That each one shares his own in others' good, Then as these truths are better understood, The centuries of erring human will Fade dimly as we climb His holy hill.

Our Father, humbly now we come to Thee, Yearning to reach the plane of purity, Seeking the way those other students trod When Jesus taught them to commune with God. Let us not lightly breathe this prayer of Soul, But touch its depths profound, so that the goal Of sinless sense be sighted and attained, And Soul's reflection pure be unrestrained.

Egypt was heavy with burden of wars, And dark with a cloud of rebellings, But the children of Israel closed their doors, And there was light in their dwellings. There are wars and rumors of war to-day, But their signal only arouses The soldiers of Truth to watch and pray That His light remain in their houses.

But most I pray Thee for a humble heart, Content to spend its all in loving. I Would be like that sweet spring which offers up Its pebbled chalice to the traveler's lips, Nor cares who stoops to taste its wayside wine, So that it quenches some compelling thirst, Cleanses some sweaty toiler's dusty brow, Or laves a pilgrim's weary, stone-bruised feet.

Weary? Yet say not so, The Master gave this invitation sweet, Which calls thee still, thy human need to meet: Come unto me, the Word shall be thy rest; Learn thou of me, and meekly seek the best; The yoke is easy, and the burden light, Rested the soul, if but the work be right. Lonely? Yet say not so, For faithful see, as Truth, the promise stand: Naught can exceed the joys at His right hand; He friendship gives, which nothing can debase, Eternal Life, and purity, and grace.

My need is just to know, from day to day, That Love divine is guiding all the way; To take each step with confidence and joy, Disdaining any thought which might annoy; And give to each and every task at hand Whatever of my best it may demand; For thus it is that God can show me how His kingdom is, eternally, and now.

If I, as faithful friend, held man to be The likeness of his Father-Mother God, I could not then my neighbor's effort see With eye censorious as a task-man's rod. If I, in Truth, would help him progress make, I'd see the perfect man that God hath wrought; Nor seek to plan the way that each should take; Nor bind my brother with the critic's thought.

I am resting, O Love, I am resting in Love! As a confident child finds a kind mother's arms, I have sought and have found holy Love; And subdued are the doubts and the fretful alarms. I am resting in Love, tender Love! Boundless strength, flowing forth from pure Love, Now enfolds me and holds me in unwearied rest.