[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":4},["ShallowReactive",2],{"reading-0901":3},"SEPTEMBER 1\r\nI will lay thy stones with fair colors (Isa. 54:11).\r\nThe stones from the wall said, \"We come from the mountains far\r\naway, from the sides of the craggy hills. Fire and water have\r\nworked on us for ages, but made us only crags. Human hands have made us into a dwelling where the children of your immortal race\r\nare born, and suffer, and rejoice, and find rest and shelter, and\r\nlearn the lessons set them by our Maker and yours. But we have\r\npassed through much to fit us for this. Gunpowder has rent our very heart; pickaxes have cleaved and broken us, it seemed to us often\r\nwithout design or meaning, as we lay misshapen stones in the\r\nquarry; but gradually we were cut into blocks, and some of us were chiseled with finer instruments to a sharper edge. But we are\r\ncomplete now, and are in our places, and are of service.\r\nYou are in the quarry still, and not complete, and therefore to\r\nyou, as once to us, much is inexplicable. But you are destined for a higher building, and one day you will be placed in it by hands\r\nnot human, a living stone in a heavenly temple.\r\nIn the still air the music lies unheard:\r\nIn the rough marble beauty hides unseen;\r\nTo make the music and the beauty needs\r\nThe mater's touch, the sculptor's chisel keen.\r\nGreat Master, touch us with Thy skillful hands; Let not the music that is in us die!\r\nGreat Sculptor, hew and polish us; nor let, Hidden and lost, thy form within us lie!",1783499793813]