WHATSOEVER by Margaret J. Preston

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Dec 4, 1879

WHATSOEVER.

By Margaret J. Preston

ONE day in stress of need, I prayed, "Dear Father, thou hast bid me bring All wants to thee; so, unafraid, I ask thee for this little thing, Round which my hopes so keenly cling. And yet, remembering what thou art, So dread, so wondrous, so divine. I marvel that I have the heart To tell thee of this wish of mine!

"Thy heavens are strewn with worlds on worlds, Thy star-dust powders reachless space; System on system round thee whirls, Who sittest in the central place Of Being; while before thy face The universe hangs like a bead Of dew, upon whose arc is shown, With but reflected flash indeed, Godhood's magnificence alone!

"And when I think—our world's but one Small world amid the countless band, That in its daily course doth run Its golden circuit through thy hand, And that its peopled myriads stand Always before thee, even as I, Sad suppliants in their misery dumb, Waiting for every hour's supply,— I wonder that I dare to come!

"I could not come, but for thy word That says I may, in reverent fear, Approach, and through thy grace be heard; Therefore, to-day, I venture near And bring the suit, to me so dear; Remembering what thy Christ hath said, And reading it with faith aright, That every hair upon my head Bears its own number in his sight.

"The thing I ask thee for,—how small, How trivial must it seem to thee! Yet, Lord, thou knowest, who knowest all, It is no little thing to me, So weak, so human as I be! Therefore I make my prayer to-day, And as a father pitieth, then, Grant me this little thing, I pray, Through the one sacred Name. Amen!"

I had my wish: the little thing, So needful to my heart's content, Was given to my petitioning, And comforted, I onward went With tranquil soul, wherein were blent Trust and thanksgiving: for I know Now, as I had not known before, The whatsoever's meaning: so I cavil not nor question more!

—Margaret J. Preston.