Two Grains Of Corn

A farmer dropped two grains of corn
In the cold, dry earth one April morn.
Together they fell in their cheerless bed,
And the earth fell lightly overhead.
"Oh, cruel fate!" cried one in fear,
"What evil chance has brought us here!
'Tis not meant that such as I
Fall in the ground to waste and die.
Within this stone a nice, dry shelf
Invites me to take care of self."

The warm sun shone and the soft rain fell;
The grain in the earth began to swell.
The wise one cried from its snug retreat,
"How prudent am I--no rain, nor heat
Can reach me here. I'm safe as at first,
While you, poor thing, look ready to burst.
You owe a duty to yourself;
There's room for two on this dry shelf.
Come out of the earth so close and wet,
Perhaps you may save yourself yet."

"Nay," cried the other one from the earth,
"Only from pain and death come birth.
Of such as we spake the Holy One,
'Except it die, it abideth alone.'
But if some seed of common grain
Die in the earth, its death is not vain
So let me yield in patient trust
To the hand that laid me in the dust."

September's fields lie brown and sere;
Now comes the full corn in the ear.
The one that died in the darksome mold
Has yielded more than a hundredfold,
While the one that cared for itself so well
Dies there in the earth--an empty shell.

.... Gladys Porteous



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 thru constant watching wise,
To meet the glad with joyful smile and to wipe the weeping eyes,
And a heart at leisure from itself to soothe and sympathize.

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 as I go.

Wherever in the world I am, in whatsoe'er estate,
I have a fellowship of heart 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 things while keeping by Thy side.
Content to fill a little space...if Thou be glorified.

Source: From A Friend