December 20

Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. — Jer 31:3

Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken.
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
— William Shakespeare.

I will not doubt the love untold
Which not my worth nor want hath bought,
Which wooed me young and wooes me old,
And to this evening hath me brought.
— Henry David Thoreau.

Prayer

Loving Father, teach me the secret of constancy, that none may ever be disappointed in me. May I not reckon what I give on recompense, but have the spirit of giving which has no measure for what it may receive in return. May I not be forgetful of thy love which will hold me to deeper reverence and devotion. Amen.