Prayers Written at Vailima | Page 5

food,
bright weather, and light hearts. In what we meditate of evil, frustrate
our will; in what of good, further our endeavours. Cause injuries to be
forgot and benefits to be remembered.
Let us lie down without fear and awake and arise with exultation. For
his sake, in whose words we now conclude.
IN TIME OF RAIN
WE thank Thee, Lord, for the glory of the late days and the excellent
face of thy sun. We thank Thee for good news received. We thank Thee
for the pleasures we have enjoyed and for those we have been able to
confer. And now, when the clouds gather and the rain impends over the
forest and our house, permit us not to be cast down; let us not lose the
savour of past mercies and past pleasures; but, like the voice of a bird
singing in the rain, let grateful memory survive in the hour of darkness.
If there be in front of us any painful duty, strengthen us with the grace
of courage; if any act of mercy, teach us tenderness and patience.

ANOTHER IN TIME OF RAIN
LORD, Thou sendest down rain upon the uncounted millions of the
forest, and givest the trees to drink exceedingly. We are here upon this
isle a few handfuls of men, and how many myriads upon myriads of
stalwart trees! Teach us the lesson of the trees. The sea around us,
which this rain recruits, teems with the race of fish; teach us, Lord, the
meaning of the fishes. Let us see ourselves for what we are, one out of
the countless number of the clans of thy handiwork. When we would
despair, let us remember that these also please and serve Thee.
BEFORE A TEMPORARY SEPARATION
TO-DAY we go forth separate, some of us to pleasure, some of us to
worship, some upon duty. Go with us, our guide and angel; hold Thou
before us in our divided paths the mark of our low calling, still to be
true to what small best we can attain to. Help us in that, our maker, the
dispenser of events - Thou, of the vast designs, in which we blindly
labour, suffer us to be so far constant to ourselves and our beloved.
FOR FRIENDS
FOR our absent loved ones we implore thy loving-kindness. Keep them
in life, keep them in growing honour; and for us, grant that we remain
worthy of their love. For Christ's sake, let not our beloved blush for us,
nor we for them. Grant us but that, and grant us courage to endure
lesser ills unshaken, and to accept death, loss, and disappointment as it
were straws upon the tide of life.
FOR THE FAMILY
AID us, if it be thy will, in our concerns. Have mercy on this land and
innocent people. Help them who this day contend in disappointment
with their frailties. Bless our family, bless our forest house, bless our
island helpers. Thou who hast made for us this place of ease and hope,
accept and inflame our gratitude; help us to repay, in service one to
another, the debt of thine unmerited benefits and mercies, so that, when
the period of our stewardship draws to a conclusion, when the windows

begin to be darkened, when the bond of the family is to be loosed, there
shall be no
bitterness of remorse in our farewells.
Help us to look back on the long way that Thou hast brought us, on the
long days in which we have been served, not according to our deserts,
but our desires; on the pit and the miry clay, the blackness of despair,
the horror of misconduct, from which our feet have been plucked out.
For our sins forgiven or prevented, for our shame unpublished, we
bless and thank Thee, O God. Help us yet again and ever. So order
events, so strengthen our frailty, as that day by day we shall come
before Thee with this song of gratitude, and in the end we be dismissed
with honour. In their weakness and their fear, the vessels of thy
handiwork so pray to Thee, so praise Thee. Amen.
SUNDAY
WE beseech Thee, Lord, to behold us with favour, folk of many
families and nations gathered together in the peace of this roof, weak
men and women subsisting under the covert of thy patience. Be patient
still; suffer us yet awhile longer; - with our broken purposes of good,
with our idle endeavours against evil, suffer us awhile longer to endure,
and (if it may be) help us to do better. Bless to us our extraordinary
mercies; if the day come when these must be taken, brace us to play the
man under affliction. Be with our friends, be with ourselves. Go with
each of us to