The Best [poem]

Christ wants the best. He in the far-off ages

Once claimed the firstling of the flock, the

                finest of the wheat,

And still He asks His own with with gentlest pleading

To lay their highest hopes and and brightest 

                talents at His feet.

He'll not forget the feeblest service,

               humblest love;

He only asks that of our store we give to Him

               The best we have.

Christ gives the best. He takes the hearts we offer;

And fills them with His glorious beauty,

               joy and peace;

And in His service as we're growing stronger,

The calls to great achievements still increase.

The richest gifts for us on earth, or in

                the heavens above,

Are hid in Christ. In Jesus we receive 

                The best we have.

And is our best too much? O friend, let us

                remember 

How once our Lord poured out His soul for us,

And in the prime of His mysterious manhood

Gave up His precious life upon the cross,

The Lord of lords, by whom the world were made,

Through bitter grief and tears gave us

                 His best  ...  Himself! 

-Selected 

(from booklet called "Calling all Girls" by Gertrud I. Harlow)