Living Things

Hurt no living thing
Ladybird, nor butterfly
Nor moth with dusty wing
Nor cricket chirping cheerily
Nor grasshopper so light of leap
Nor dancing gnat, nor beetle fat
Nor harmless worm that creep.

(Christina Rosetti)

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The lark's on the wing
The snail's on the thorn
God's in his Heaven
All's right with the world!

(Robert Browning)

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Thankful

For flowers that bloom about our feet

Father, we thank Thee

For tender grass so fresh and sweet

Father, we thank Thee

For song of bird and hum of bee

For all things fair we hear or see

Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

For blue of stream and blue of sky

Father, we thank Thee

For pleasant shade of branches high

Father, we thank Thee

for fragrant air and cooling breeze

For beauty of the blooming trees

Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

For this new morning with its light

Father, we thank Thee

For rest and shelter of the night

Father, we thank Thee

For health and food, for love and friends

For everything Thy goodness sends

Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

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Make me, dear Lord, polite and kind

To everyone, I pray

And may I ask You how You find

Yourself, dear Lord, today?

(John Banister Tabb)

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What can I give Him

Poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd

I would bring Him a lamb

If I were a wise man

I would do my part

Yet what can I give Him

Give Him my heart.

(Christina Rossetti)

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God made the world

So broad and grand

Filled with blessings

From His hand

He made the sky

So high and blue

And all the little children too!

Playing

Now before I run to play

Let me not forget to pray

To God who kept me through the night

And waked me with the morning light.

Help me, Lord, to love Thee more

Than I ever loved before

In my work and in my play

Be Thou with me through the day.

Give us, Father, every day

Work to do and time for play

Help us to be kind and good

To act the way Thy children should.

Lord, teach me to love Thy children

Everywhere, because

Thou art their father, and mine.

Amen.

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The little cares that fretted me

I lost them yesterday

Among the fields above the sea

Among the lowing of the herds

The rustling of the trees

Among the singing of the birds

The humming of the bees.

The foolish fears of what might pass

I cast them all away

Among the clover-scented grass

Among the new-mown hay

Among the hushing of the corn

Where drowsy poppies nod

Where ill thoughts die and good are born

Out in the fields with God.

(Louise Imogen Guiney)

Good morning

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven

Hallowed be Thy name

Thy kingdom come

Thy will be done

On earth as it is in heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass against us

And lead us not into temptation

But deliver us from evil

For Thine is the kingdom

And the power, and the glory

Forever and ever

Amen.

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Father in Heaven, all through the night

I have been sleeping, safe in Thy sight

Father, I thank Thee; bless me, I pray

Bless me and keep me all through the day

So here hath been dawning

another blue day

Think, wilt thou let it

Slip useless away ?

(Thomas Carlyle)

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This is the day

which the Lord hath made;

We will rejoice

and be glad in it.

(Psalm 118:24)