Sunday Favorites – Tennyson on Prayer

Sunday Favorites is a new weekly event hosted by Chari at Happy to Design. It allows us to revisit favorite posts and give current readers another chance to read and enjoy them.

I posted this in August 2008. I hope it will be of interet to you now.

Driving back from having my driver’s license renewed at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, I was happy to have it done before it expired on my birthday early next week. The radio was tuned to WGBH Boston where I heard that today is Alfred Lord Tennyson’s birthday.

Tennyson was one of the greatest of English poets, who enjoyed great fame and acceptance in his own day. He was also the first to be knighted solely on his literary achievements.

For years I had a bookmark in my Bible with a verse from Tennyson.

"More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of.
Wherefore, et Thy Voice rise
like a fountain night and day."

Here is the context, in The Idylls of the King – The Passing of Arthur as King Arthur bids farewell to Belvedere.

"If thou shouldst never see my face again,
Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend?
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.
But now farewell...."

I love to reflect that, so many bloggers, "knowing God," lift up their hearts in prayer both for themselves and for those of friends they meet only online.

I trust you are enjoying your day. Thanks for stopping by my blog. Please come again.

Sunday Favorites – The Grammar of Life

Sunday Favorites is a new weekly event hosted by Chari at Happy to Design. It allows us to revisit favorite posts and give current readers another chance to read and enjoy them.

This is a post from July 21, 2008. I hope the message speaks to you. Have a wonderful week.

Today I would like to share a poem that I have had for many years in my collection of inspirational writings. The poem deals with the subject of attitude or perspective. How much it improves our life when we have a perspective that is hopeful and positive.

The Grammar of Life

"Said a Professor of English:
‘Live in the active voice,
not the passive.

Thank more about what you make happen
than what happens to you.

Live in the indicative mood,
rather than the subjunctive.

Be concerned with things as they are
rather than as they might be.

Live in the present tense,
facing the duty at hand
Without regret for the past
or worry for the future.

Live in the first person,
criticizing yourself
rather than finding fault with others

Live in the singular number,
Caring more for the approval
of your own conscience
than for the applause of the crowd.

And if you want a verb to conjugate,
You cannot do better than to take
The verb ‘to love’."
-- Author Unknown

This poem reminds me of the adage, "Bloom where you are planted." Make the most of your present circumstances. So I illustrate this post with closeups of flowers from my garden.

Thank you for stopping at my blog. My wish for you is that each day you may cultivate a positive and helpful perspective.

Prayer for the New Year

Grant me the strength from day to day
to bear what burdens come my way.
Grant me throughout this bright New Year
more to endure and less to fear.

Help me live that I may be
from spite and petty malice free.
Let me not bitterly complain
when cherished hopes of mine prove vain,
or spoil with deeds of hate and rage
some fair tomorrow's spotless page.

Lord, as the days shall come and go
in courage let me stronger grow.
Lord, as the New Year dawns today
help me to put my faults away.

Let me be big in little things;
grant me the joy which friendship brings.
Keep me from selfishness and spite;
let me be wise in what is right.

A Happy New Year!
Grant that I may bring no tear to any eye
When this New Year in time shall end.
Let it be said I've played the friend,
have lived and loved and labored here,
and made of it a happy year.
-- Edgar A. Guest

The Grammar of Life

Today I would like to share a poem that I have had for many years in my collection of inspirational writings. The poem deals with the subject of attitude or perspective. How much it improves our life when we have a perspective that is hopeful and positive.

The Grammar of Life

"Said a Professor of English:
‘Live in the active voice,
not the passive.

Thank more about what you make happen
than what happens to you.

Live in the indicative mood,
rather than the subjunctive.

Be concerned with things as they are
rather than as they might be.

Live in the present tense,
facing the duty at hand
Without regret for the past
or worry for the future.

Live in the first person,
criticizing yourself
rather than finding fault with others

Live in the singular number,
Caring more for the approval
of your own conscience
than for the applause of the crowd.

And if you want a verb to conjugate,
You cannot do better than to take
The verb ‘to love’."
-- Author Unknown

This poem reminds me of the adage, "Bloom where you are planted." Make the most of your present circumstances. So I illustrate this post with closeups of flowers from my garden.

Thank you for stopping at my blog. My wish for you is that each day you may cultivate a positive and helpful perspective.