An Evening Prayer

I am a bubble Upon thy ever-moving, resting sea: Oh, rest me now from tossing, trespass, trouble! Take me down into thee. Give me thy peace. My heart is aching with unquietness: Oh, make its inharmonious beating cease! Thy hand upon it press. My Night! My Day! Swift night and day betwixt, my world doth reel: Potter, take not thy hand from off the clay That whirls upon thy wheel. O Heart, I cry For love and life, pardon and hope and strength! O Father, I am thine; I shall not die, But I shall sleep at length!

GEORGE MACDONALD (1824-1905), forerunner of the Inklings—Scottish minister, poet, novelist, and imaginative seer—was one of the most beloved Victorian authors throughout Great Britain and the U.S. in the 19th century. He wrote some 50 volumes of novels, poetry, short stories, fantasy, sermons, and essays. His influential body of work placed him alongside his era’s great men of letters, and his following was vast. Two decades after his death, his books were pivotal in leading C.S. Lewis to Christianity. - Michael Phillips