Heart Gifts...series

Warm Our Hearts With Thy Love 

 

Oh, God, who made the summer

and warmed the earth with beauty,

Warm our hearts with gratitude

and devotion to our duty,

For in this age of violence,

rebellion and defiance

We've forgotten the true meaning

of "dependable reliance"_

We have lost our sense of duty

and our sense of values, too,

And what was once unsanctioned,

no longer is taboo,

Our standards have been lowered

and we resist all discipline,

And our vision has been narrowed

and blinded to all sin-

Oh, put the summer brightness

in our closed, unseeing eyes

So in the carewarn faces

that we pass we'll recognize

The heartbreak and the loneliness,

the trouble and despair

That a word of understanding

would make easier to bear-

Oh, God, look down on our cold hearts

and warm them with Your love,

And grant us Your forgiveness

which we're so unworthy of.

~ Helen Steiner Rice