The All-Abounding Love by Susan Coolidge

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 20, 1910

The All-Abounding Love

By Susan Coolidge

How infinite and sweet, Thou everywhere And all-abounding Love, Thy service is! Thou liest an ocean round my world of care, My petty every day; and, fresh and fair, Pourest Thy strong tides through all my crevices, Until the silence ripples into prayer.

That Thy full glory may abound, increase, And so Thy likeness shall be formed in me, I pray. The answer is not rest and peace, But charges, duties, wants, anxieties, Till there seems room for everything but Thee, And never time for anything but these.

And should I fear, but lo! amid the press, The whirl and hum and pressure, of my day, I hear Thy garment's sweep, Thy seamless dress, And close beside my work and weariness Discern Thy gracious form, not far away, But very near, O Lord, to help and bless.

The busy fingers fly; the eye may see Only the glancing needle which they hold, But all my life is blossoming inwardly, And every breath is like a litany, While through each labor, like a thread of gold, Is woven the sweet consciousness of Thee.

— Susan Coolidge.