John 6:12-13 When they were filled, he said to his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.… Though the wealth of God is uncountable, He takes care even of His pence. There is no waste in his workshop. All things go towards the up-building of some newer life. Whatsoever you behold is but part of the great wheel of life everywhere returning. The cloud becomes the rain, the rain the river, the river the sea, the sea the cloud again. One of the glories of science is to abolish the word "waste." Even the rag-picker has his function to perform, a higher one perhaps than yours. It is better to gather rags than to wear overmuch finery, because those rags go to the mill and become paper, on which the lovely and heroic deeds of men are inscribed. When death comes he will make mock of your fine clothes, and you will go your way to the rag heap. He who rescues rags is often more useful than he who wears them, and he might have written across him "Gather up the fragments," etc. He gathers rags, bones, etc. He sorts them. Then they are sold and made into new materials, which in their turn come round again to rags. I take up a sheet of paper upon which to write, and I say of it, "Rags of my youth come back again — come to clothe my soul this time." (George Dawson, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. |
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