So to the calmly gathered thought
The innermost of life is taught,
The mystery dimly understood,
That love of God is love of good:
That to be saved is only this--
Salvation from our selfishness.

--John Greenleaf Whittier.

Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: love therefore is the
fulfillment of the law. And this, knowing the season, that already
it is time for you to awake out of sleep: for now is salvation
nearer to us than when we first believed.

--Romans 13. 10, 11.


Tender Father, may I not attempt to serve life for my own
gratification. May I not interpret love through vanity, but from
reality. Make me worth while, that I may be relied upon for my
pledges, and needed for my services. Amen.




JANUARY TWENTY-SECOND

Andrea del Sarto died 1531.

Francis Bacon born 1561.