| The Secrets of a Beautiful Life |
Chapter 9 |
Page 4 |
Then follows Christ’s blessing on the loaves. His blessing maketh rich. We ought to pray continually that Christ’s touch may be upon us, and that what we have may first lie in his hands, before it is given out to become food to others. There seems to be a significance, too, in the fact that Christ broke the loaves as he blessed them, before he gave them into the hands of the disciples. Often he must break us and our gifts before he can make us bread for others. Very beautifully do Dr. S. W. Duffield’s lines illustrate this:—
“They tell me I must bruise
The rose’s leaf
Ere I can keep and use
Its fragrance brief.
They tell me I must break
The skylark’s heart
Ere her cage song will make
The silence start.
They tell me love must bleed,
And friendship weep,
Ere in my deepest need
I touch that deep
Must it be always so
With precious things?
Must they be bruised, and go
With beaten wings?
Ah, yes! By crushing days,
By caging nights, by scar
Of thorns and stony ways,
These blessings are!”
Page 4