By Robert Louis Stevenson
LORD, behold our family here assembled. We thank Thee for this place in which we dwell; for the love that unites us; for the peace accorded us this day; for the hope with which we expect the morrow; for the health, the work, the food, and the bright skies that make our lives delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth.
LET peace abound in our small company. Purge out of every heart the lurking grudge. Give us grace to accept and to forgive offenders.
FORGETFUL ourselves, help us to bear cheerfully the forgetfulness of others. Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind. Spare us to our friends, soften us to our enemies. Bless us, if that may be Thy will, in all our innocent endeavors. If it may not be, give us strength to encounter that which is to come, that we be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate with wrath, and in all change of fortune, and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving one another.
AS the clay to the potter, as the windmill to the wind, as children of their sire, we beseech of Thee this help and mercy for Christ's sake.
My very best wishes to you all on this day.
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