January 16

Can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine figs? neither can salt water yield sweet. — Jas 3:12

But lovely concord, and most sacred peace,
Doth nourish vertue, and fast friendship breeds;
Weake she makes strong, and strong thing does increase,
Till it the pitch of highest praise exceeds.
— Edmund Spenser.

Perfect good-breeding is the result of nature and not of education; for it may be found in a cottage, and may be missed in a palace. ’Tis the genial regard for the feeling of others that springs from an absence of selfishness.
— Disraeli.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, help me to value my thoughts, words, and deeds. If at the close of the day, there may be one who has been wounded by my injustice, may I be willing to make quick atonement. May I avoid the ways and words that hurt; and not only wish rightly and work rightly, but speak to enrich others with tenderness. Amen.