THANKSGIVING by Mrs. L. D. A. Stuttle

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Tuesday, February 17, 1885

FromThe Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 62, No. 7

THANKSGIVING

By Mrs. L. D. A. Stuttle

BY MRS. L. D. A. STUTTLE.

The Lord has been good and gracious And gentle and kind to me, And many and many a blessing He has given me, full and free. My path has been filled with roses (With now and then a thorn), And my life is as free and joyous As the light of a summer morn.

And oft I am led to wonder My sorrows are, aye, so small, While others have drained with trembling lips, The bitterest cups of gall. And oft I am filled with rejoicing, Like a glad thanksgiving hymn, When, more than ever, the Master fills My cup to the very brim.

Yet oft I forget to be thankful, And my spirit forgets its song; And I hang my harp on the willows, And murmur the whole day long Because of some passing cloudlet (Almost too small to see) That has, for one little moment, Hidden the sun from me.

But I know that the Father chastens The children he loveth best, And sometimes I almost wonder If he counts me among the rest. And often I ask the Master, “Oh! what can I do for thee, To prove my heartfelt gratitude, For what thou hast done for me?”

But my tongue is slow and faltering, And my hands are weak and small, And it seems that work for the Master, I scarcely can do at all. Yet I’m sure that he knows I love him, Though many a sad mistake In my blind and careless folly, I am ever so prone to make.

And oh, my little duties So often left undone, And golden opportunities, Are gone with the setting sun. And though I am often yearning For work that is grand and great, Perhaps I can better serve my God If I patiently learn to wait;

And do the little duties That come to me every day, And cheerfully bear the little cross Of my uneventful way. Perhaps, in the grand “hereafter;” The Master will say to me, Come, enter the pearly portals And eat of life’s fadeless tree.

Vernon, Mich.