O Lord of life, and Lord of love! love us into life, and give us life to love Thee. Grant us life enough to put life into all things, that when we travel o’er this part of our life, and it seems but dust and barrenness, we may be of those who hope in Thee. Touch this barrenness, till all things bloom. Touch those of us whose life is barrenner than it need be—lacking knowledge and beauty, filled with petty interests and foolish cares. Lord, forgive us that our life is so poor, and grant us the thoughts of God, that we may be enabled for the time to come to make this very desert blossom as the rose. Grant that in us, short-lived, vexed with cares, hungry, thirsty, dying, the Spirit of God may so come and so dwell, that the beauty of the Lord may be upon us, and the work of our hands be established: through Jesus Christ our Lord—Amen.

George Dawson.