Your House Of Happiness
Take what God gives, O heart of mine,
And build your house of happiness.
Perchance some have been given more;
But many have been given less.
The treasure lying at your feet,
Whose value you but faintly guess,
Another builder, looking on,
Would barter heaven to possess.
Have you found work that you can do?
Is there a heart that loves you best?
Is there a spot somewhere called home
Where, spent and worn, your soul may rest?
A friendly tree? A book? A song?
A dog that loves your hand’s caress?
A store of health to meet life’s needs?
Oh, build your house of happiness!
Trust not to-morrow’s dawn to bring
The dreamed-of joy for which you wait;
You have enough of pleasant things
To house your soul in goodly state;
To-morrow Time’s relentless stream
May bear what now you have away;
Take what God gives, O heart, and build
Your house of happiness to-day!
—B. Y. Williams.
Beauty And Service
Every right action and true thought sets the seal of its beauty on person and face.
Do all the good you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can, in every place you can.
—John Ruskin.
Alternate Reading: Colossians 3: 5-25.