God Will Count Your Honest Try

By William Henry Dawson

If in life’s great, onward battle
You have done your best and lost,
If amid the din and rattle
You regarded not the cost,
If you met your foeman bravely,
If you dared to do or die,
God will credit you, most surely,
For your fearless, honest try.

Have you sometimes felt discouraged,
Felt that life had lost its charm,
And that every effort failed you,
Bringing to you only harm?
Look within and ask this question:
“Have I done my level best?”
If you answer, without guessing,
“Yes,” then God will do the rest.

Has this neighbor won more glory?
That one more of earthly store?
Though your hair is thin and hoary,
Are you poorer than before?
Have you helped, with hands quite willing?
Have you heard the orphan’s cry?
Given part of your last shilling?
God will count your honest try.