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27.
Getting and Giving
Think back about the old, and then the new,
Ebenezer Scrooge, and consider this. Paraphrased
after the gospel hymn,
"There is a Sea,
"by
L.
K. Zahn,
the following piece titled
"Two Seas"by
Bruce Barton
compares and contrasts the processes of getting and
giving:
There are two seas in Palestine. One is fresh,
and fish are in it Splashes of green adorn its
banks. Trees spread their branches over it and
stretch out their thirsty roots to sip ofits healing
waters.
Along its shores the children play, as children
played when He was there. He loved it He
could look across its silver surface when He
spoke His parables. And on a rolling plain not far
_
away He fed five thousandpeople.
The river Jordan makes this sea with sparkling
water from the hills.
So
it laughs in the sunshine.
Andmen build their houses near to
it,
and birds,
their nests; and every kind of life is happier
because it is there.
The river Jordan flows on south into another sea.
Here ·is no splash of fish, no fluttering leaf, no
song of birds, no childrens laughter. Travelers
choose another route,
unles~
on urgent business.
The air hangs heavy above its water, and neither
man nor beast nor fowl will drink.
What makes this mighty difference in these
neighbor seas? Not the river Jordan. It empties
the same good water into both. Not the soil in
-
which they lie; not the country round about
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