The Collect

A Collect is a prayer - sometimes a gathering prayer but for GFWC meetings, it is a closing prayer. Written by Mary Stewart in 1904, she wrote it as a "prayer for the day. I called is a ''Collect for Club Women,' because I felt that women working together with wide interests for large ends was a new thing under the sun and that, perhaps they had need for special petition and meditation of their own."

At the time, Mary was a member of the Longmont Fortnightly Club which was a member of the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC). She hoped the Collect would instill a sense of unity among women working together toward important goals.

The GFWC was the first organization to officially adopt the Collect into their organization.

 Keep us O Lord from pettiness, let us be large in thought, in word and deed, Let us be done with fault finding and leave off self-seeking. May we put away all pretense and meet each other face to face, without self-pity and without prejudice. May we never be hasty in judgment and always generous. Teach us to put into action our better impulses, straight forward and unafraid. Let us take time for all things; make us grow calm, serene, gentle. Grant that we may realize that it is the little things that create differences; that in the big things of life we are one. And may we strive to touch and know the great human heart common to us all, and O Lord God, Let us not forget to be kind.                                                                      written by Mary Stewart