Daily Devotionals

Streams in the Desert

Devotional: July 30th

"A cup of cold water only" (Matthew 10:42).

What am I to do? I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good work, therefore, any kindness, or any service I can render to any soul of man or animal let me do it now. Let me not neglect or defer it, for I shall not pass this way again. -- An Old Quaker Saying

It isn’t the thing you do, dear,

It’s the thing you leave undone,

Which gives you the bitter heartache

At the setting of the sun;

The tender word unspoken,

The letter you did not write,

The flower you might have sent, dear,

Are your haunting ghosts at night.

The stone you might have lifted

Out of your brother’s way,

The bit of heartsome counsel

You were hurried too much to say;

The loving touch of the hand, dear,

The gentle and winsome tone,

That you had no time or thought for,

With troubles enough of your own.

These little acts of kindness,

So easily out of mind,

These chances to be angels,

Which even mortals find

They come in night and silence,

Each chill reproachful wraith,

When hope is faint and flagging,

And a blight has dropped on faith.

For life is all too short, dear.

And sorrow is all too great,

To suffer our slow compassion

That tarries until too late.

And it’s not the thing you do, dear,

It’s the thing you leave undone,

Which gives you the bitter heartache,

At the setting of the sun.

-- Adelaide Proctor

Give what you have; to someone it may be better than you dare to think. -- Longfellow