The Home Circle by Susan Coolidge

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 18, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 44.

The Home Circle.

By Susan Coolidge

A SINGLE STITCH.

ONE stitch-dropped as the weaver-drove His nimble shuttle to and fro, In and out, beneath, above, Till the pattern seems to bud and grow, As if the fairies had helping been. And the one stitch dropped pulled the next stitch out, And a weak place grew in the fabric stout; And the perfect pattern was marred for aye, By the one small stitch that was dropped that day.

One small life in God's great plan, How futile it seems as the ages roll, Do what it may, or strive how it can, To alter the sweep of the infinite whole! A single stitch in an endless web, A drop in the ocean's flow and ebb! But the pattern is rent where the stitch is lost, Or marred where the tangled threads have crossed; And each life that fails of the true intent Marks the perfect plan that its Master meant. —Susan Coolidge.