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 of its
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 thousand people.
The river
Jordan makes this sea with sparkling water from the hills. So it laughs
in the sunshine. And men 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 no
splash of fish, no fluttering of leaf, no song of birds, no children's
laughter. Travelers choose another route, unless 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.
This is
the difference. The Sea of Galilee receives but does not keep the Jordan.
For every drop that flows into it another drop flows out. The giving and
receiving go on in equal measure.
The other
sea is shrewder, hoarding its income jealously. It will not be tempted
into any generous impulse. Every drop it gets, it keeps.
The Sea
of Galilee gives and lives. The other sea gives nothing. It is named The
Dead.
There are
two kinds of people in the world. There are two seas in Palestine.
Bruce Barton wrote this short piece, "There are
Two Seas" for McCall's in 1928. John D. Rockefeller used it as a
parable in his speech for a United Fund campaign. It was also reprinted
in the Reader's Digest in 1946. [http://www.ciadvertising.org/student_account/spring_01/adv382j/suz/barton_index.htm]
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