A little speck, a breath, a vanishing
shadow, a fading flower. By Henry Law. Redeeming the time because the
days are evil. Ephesians 5 16. We humbly pray that all the occurrences
of this departing day may work together for our good a little
stage of life is past. Its end should find us riper
in grace, and more fit to see your face. But we have left many
duties undone. May this condemning thought strip
us more and more of all self-righteousness, and deepen in us the resolve
that, if other days are ours, They shall, Your Spirit helping
us, be more devoted to Your gracious service. Past opportunities can
never be recalled. They once were ours to use, and
their misuse adds to our overwhelming guilt. while we plead your dear
Son's atonement as our hope of pardon, may we be quickened to
more constant and watchful care. Help us to redeem the time, knowing
that to us it is a very short, a little speck, a breath, a vanishing
shadow, a fading flower. and seeing that we have no merit
of our own, may we prize more intensely the inestimable merits
of Christ Jesus our Lord, whom we rejoicingly receive as our
wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption. Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90, 12. Many temptations have beset our
path. Grant that in each we may see
the deceit, the subtlety, the bitter enmity, and the wily power
of our deadly adversaries. May the experience of this day
lead us to stand with a more wary eye on the watchtower of
faith and to cling with more determined grasp to the almighty
arm of our protecting Lord. Wherever we have fallen, may
we smite upon our breasts and hide our sins beneath the Redeemer's
sheltering righteousness. wherever we have escaped, may
we ascribe deliverance wholly to your sustaining grace, and
may our grateful songs exalt the Lord our strength. If we
have been permitted to do anything to the glory of your great name,
whether in word or work, be pleased to add your effectual blessing
and multiply a thousandfold the seed so scantily sown.