Scripture Verse

Lord, teach us to pray. Luke 11:1

Introduction

portrait
Ednah Cheney (1824–1904)

Words: Ed­nah D. L. Che­ney, Ju­ly 16, 1850.

Music: Wool­wich Charles E. Ket­tle, 1876 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Ket­tle (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

At first I prayed for light:
Could I but see the way,
How glad­ly, swift­ly would I walk
To ev­er­last­ing day!

And next I prayed for strength:
That I might tread the road
With firm, un­fal­ter­ing feet, and win
The hea­vens’ se­rene abode.

And then I prayed for faith:
Could I but trust my God,
I’d live in­fold­ed in His peace,
Though foes were all abroad.

But now I pray for love:
Deep love to God and man;
A liv­ing love that will not fail,
However dark His plan.

And light and strength and faith
Are op­en­ing ev­ery­where!
God wait­ed pa­tient­ly un­til
I prayed the larg­er pray­er.