Pardon me while I file. . .

My sweet friend, Cath, had this on her blog and I wanted to put it somewhere I wouldn't forget it.  I LOVE it.  Apparently it's a hymn but I have never heard it. You should take the time to read it.

I looked up the author, Anna Laetitia Waring, and it seems she was quite a woman. She had written 39 hymns by the time she was 40 and she learned Hebrew so she could read scripture in the original. She may be a new favorite of mine.

"Father, I know that all my life is portioned out for me,
And the changes that are sure to come, I do not fear to see;
But I ask Thee for a present mind intent on pleasing Thee.


I ask Thee for a thoughtful love, through constant watching wise,
To meet the glad with joyful smiles, and to wipe the weeping eyes;
And a heart at leisure from itself, to soothe and sympathise.


I would not have the restless will that hurries to and fro,
Seeking for some great thing to do or secret thing to know;
I would be treated as a child, and guided where I go.


Wherever in the world I am, in whatsoe'er estate,
I have a fellowship with hearts to keep and cultivate;
And a work of lowly love to do for the Lord on whom I wait.


So I ask Thee for the daily strength, to none that ask denied,
And a mind to blend with outward life while keeping at Thy side;
Content to fill a little space, if Thou be glorified.


And if some things I do not ask, in my cup of blessing be,
I would have my spirit filled the more with grateful love to Thee --
More careful -- not to serve Thee much, but to please Thee perfectly.


There are briers besetting every path, that call for patient care;
There is a cross in every lot, and an earnest need for prayer;
But a lowly heart that leans on Thee is happy anywhere.


In a service which Thy will appoints, there are no bonds for me,
For my inmost heart is taught "the truth" that makes Thy children "free;"
And a life of self-renouncing love is a life of liberty. "

~Anna Laetitia Waring