As a child I used to spend a few weeks of my summers at my Grandma’s farm in Southern Kentucky. She owned cows and chickens that we would feed daily. I was able to learn how to water-ski on a lake nearby her home. And fishing was one of my favorite things to do while visiting with “Mimi.” There is a small pond on their land just by the house. I spent many days on the banks of this pond waiting for a fish to bite that worm.
Just beside the pond was a small stream, which contained lots of little critters to play with. I remember that during the rainy season, both the pond and the brook, would be filled to the brim with clean and pure water. But it was in the dry season the difference in their nature really showed up. The stream, constantly flowing to water the banks along side its course, still kept pure and sparkling. The brook continued to draw from the underground springs at its source and gave freely as it went along. Now, the pond was quite the opposite. It neither received nor gave. Hoarding up its precious moisture, parts of its waters became foul and stagnant. It looked rotten with a green film floating on its top.
This is the lesson Jesus was trying to teach: “Give, and it
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