REVELATION 21:1-4
Author: New International Version

1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE 43: HOW DO I LOVE THEE?
Author: Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth
and breadth
and height
My soul can reach,
when feeling out of sight
for the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need,
by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely,
as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely,
as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion
put to use In my old griefs,
and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,
--I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears,
of all my life!
--and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

A VALENTINE TO MY WIFE
Author: Eugene Field

Accept, dear girl, this little token,
And if between the lines you seek,
You'll find the love I've often spoken�
The love my dying lips shall speak.

Our little ones are making merry
O'er am'rous ditties rhymed in jest,
But in these words (though awkward�very)
The genuine article's expressed.

You are as fair and sweet and tender,
Dear brown-eyed little sweetheart mine,
As when, a callow youth and slender,
I asked to be your Valentine.

What though these years of ours be fleeting?
What though the years of youth be flown?
I'll mock old Tempus with repeating,
"I love my love and her alone!"

And when I fall before his reaping,
And when my stuttering speech is dumb,
Think not my love is dead or sleeping,
But that it waits for you to come.

So take, dear love, this little token,
And if there speaks in any line
The sentiment I'd fain have spoken,
Say, will you kiss your Valentine?

I CARRY YOUR HEART WITH ME
Author: e.e. cummings

carry your heart with me
(i carry it in my heart)
i am never without it
(anywhere i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)
I fear no fate
(for you are my fate, my sweet)
i want no world
(for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
Author: Abraham Lincoln

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

MOTHER'S LOVE
Author: Unknown

Her love is like an island
In life's ocean, vast and wide
A peaceful, quiet shelter
From the wind, the rain, the tide.
'Tis bound on the north by Hope,
By Patience on the West,
By tender Counsel on the South
And on the East by Rest.
Above it like a beacon light
Shine Faith, and Truth, and Prayer;
And thro' the changing scenes of life
I find a haven there.

RICHER THAN GOLD
Author: Strickland Gillilan (1869-1954)

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be -
I had a mother who read to me.

A MOTHER'S PRAYER
Author: Unknown

Dear Lord, it’s such a hectic day,
With little time to stop and pray,
For life’s been anything but calm
Since You called me to be a mom -
Running errands, matching socks,
Building dreams with wooden blocks,
Cooking, cleaning, finding shoes
And other stuff that children lose,
Fitting lids on bottled bugs,
Wiping tears and giving hugs,
A stack of last week’s mail to read –
So where’s the quiet time I need?
Yet, when I steal a moment, Lord,
Just at the sink or ironing board,
To ask the blessings of Your grace,
I see then, in my small one’s face,
That you have blessed me
All the while –
And I stoop to kiss
That precious smile.

IRISH BLESSING
Author: Unknown


May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

May God be with you and bless you:
May you see your children's children.
May you be poor in misfortune,
Rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward.

May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home
And may the hand of a friend always be near.

May green be the grass you walk on,
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.

DEAR DADDY
Author: Unknown

In all the things I try to do,
I want to do them just like you.
I'm watching every move you make
And trying to take each step you take.
------!!!------
Although right now I'm sort of small,
When I'm with you I feel ten feet tall.
Like you, I want to be brave and smart,
'Cause I love you, Daddy with all my heart.
------!!!------
When I am older I'll be so glad
If I grow up to be
Just like Dad.

SPIRITUAL SABBATHISM
Author: A. H. Lewis

Let us acknowledge that conflicts between law and grace do not arise
except when men refuse to accept God's saving suggestions. And as for the relation
of the philanthropic motive to the eternal motive -- what is more eternal than love for
Spiritual Sabbathism 23
men? What is more divine than the anxiety to give others rest, opportunity, the spiritual
life? If Ex. xxiii, 12, does not breathe the love of a righteous God for lost souls, what
scripture breathes it? To keep the Sabbath for men's sake, that they may keep it, is to
keep it for God's sake. The Sabbath was made for man, and, to the eye of faith, God
was made flesh for man

THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN
Author: Philip Henry

The happiness of heaven is the constant keeping of the Sabbath. Heaven is called a Sabbath, to make those who have Sabbaths long for heaven, and those who long for heaven love Sabbaths.

SABBATH
Author: William Samways Oke

Lord, let us to thy gates repair
To hear the gladdening sound,
That we may find salvation there,
While yet it may be found.
There let us joy and comfort reap;
There teach us how to pray,
For grace to choose, and strength to keep
The strait, the narrow way.
And so increase our love for Thee,
That all our future days
May one continued Sabbath be
Of gratitude and praise.

THE CHURCH
Author: James H. Aughey

The church is not a select circle of the immaculate, but a home where the outcast may come in. It is not a palace with gate attendants and challenging sentinels along the entrance-ways holding off at arm's-length the stranger, but rather a hospital where the broken-hearted may be healed, and where all the weary and troubled may find rest and take counsel together.

HOLINESS
Author: James H. Aughey

Holiness consists of three things--separation from sin, dedication to God, transformation into Christ's image. It is in vain that we talk about the last, unless we know something experimentally about the first.

THE JOYOUS DAY
Author: Henry Ward Beecher

A world without a Sabbath would be like a man without a smile, like a summer without flowers, and like a homestead without a garden. It is the joyous day of the whole week.

ANOTHER SIX DAYS' WORK IS DONE
Author: J. Stennett

Another six days' work is done,
Another Sabbath is begun;
Return, my soul, enjoy thy rest,
Improve the day that God hath blest.

O that our thoughts and thanks may rise,
As grateful incense, to the skies,
And draw from heaven that sweet repose
Which none but he that feels it knows.

A heavenly calm pervades the breast,
The earnest of that glorious rest
Which for the church of God remains,
The end of cares, the end of pains.

With joy, great God, thy works we view,
In various scenes, both old and new:
With praise, we think on mercies past;
With hope, we future pleasures taste.

In holy duties let the day,
In holy pleasures, pass away;
How sweet, a Sabbath thus to spend,
In hope of one that ne'er shall end!

A KISS TO BUILD A DREAM ON
Author: Unknown

Give me a kiss to build a dream on,
And my imagination will thrive upon that kiss.
Sweetheart, I ask no more than this
A kiss to build a dream on.
...oOo...
Give me a kiss before you leave me,
And my imagination will feed my hungry heart.
Leave me one thing before we part
A kiss to build a dream on.
...oOo...
When I'm alone with my fancies...I'll be with you
Weaving romances...making believe they're true.
...oOo...
Give me your lips for just a moment,
And my imagination will make that moment live.
Give me what you alone can give,
A kiss to build a dream on.

A THANKSGIVING POEM
Author: Robert Frost

God, we thank you for this food
For rest and home and all things good
For wind and rain and sun above
But most of all for those we love

AS TIME GOES BY
Author: UnKnown

You must remember this
A kiss is still a kiss
A sigh is still just a sigh
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by.
+++|+++
And when two lovers woo,
They still say: "I love you."
On that you can rely.
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by.
+++|+++
Moonlight and love songs - never out of date
Hearts full of passion - jealousy and hate
Woman needs man - and man must have his mate
That no one can deny.
+++|+++
It's still the same old story,
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die.
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by.

CHRISTMAS CAROL (IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER)
Author: Christina Rossetti

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

ADVENT
Author: Christina Rossetti

'Come,' Thou dost say to Angels,
To blessed Spirits, 'Come':
'Come,' to the lambs of Thine own flock,
Thy little ones, 'Come home.'

'Come,' from the many-mansioned house
The gracious word is sent;
'Come,' from the ivory palaces
Unto the Penitent.

O Lord, restore us deaf and blind,
Unclose our lips though dumb:
Then say to us, 'I will come with speed,'
And we will answer, 'Come.'

LOVE CAME DOWN AT CHRISTMAS
Author: Christina Rossetti

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead,
Love incarnate, love divine;
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?

Love shall be our token,
Love shall be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and to all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.