Ecclesiastes
1:7 – All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the
place from which the rivers come, there they return again.
I am
not a lover of dogs, but I am a firm believer of the saying that a dog
is the only animal that doesn’t have to work for a living. A hen has to
lay eggs, a cow has to give milk, and a canary has to sing but a dog
makes his living by giving you nothing but love. Dogs greet people with
their beautiful bright eyes, they wag their tails, and they run around
breathlessly with leaps of joy and barks of sheer ecstasy. People see
them in this mood and want to play with them, pat them on the head and
so on. When people see a Hyena or wolf (from the same dog family) the
first thing that comes to mind is run! The wolf or Hyena never smiles;
their eyes are neither beautiful nor bright. If they are lucky to still
have a tail they never wag it. The same thing happens in human life.
Ecclesiastes 1:7 says to the place where rivers come, there they return
again. Humans are in the habit of returning good deeds, kindness,
smiles, respect, and love to where it came from. People we channel
rivers of kindness, respect and smiles to return the same rivers back to
us. At times, we receive these rivers back from unexpected sources. A
friend was once stopped by the traffic police for over speeding. His
explanation was he was late for work, the traffic police saw this excuse
as flimsy and he proceeded to issue a fine and deduct points from his
license. As the police was about to hand out the fine he asked what do
you do? My friend said i am a traffic warden. The police then asked, do
you give second chance? He said everyone deserves a second chance. The
Police man said “there you go, your second chance”, he tore the fine and
left. What if my friend was the type that never believed in giving
second chance?
The rivers of good deeds that flow from us
might not flow back to us directly but indirectly. By indirectly we mean
to our families. A man I work with has this habit of bringing sweets,
cakes and biscuits and all sorts to work for everyone to eat. People
took his kind gesture for granted but he did not care. This man told me
about his grand pa of blessed memories. He lived in the countryside of
Montserrat. The old man had the habit of giving people gifts, buying
them drinks, giving fish and all sorts. After his death, this man went
back to Montserrat to put one or two things in order. He said when he
entered a cafe to buy a cold drink, someone he had never seen before
approached him and said you look like Pa X (X to be the name of the
grandpa). He answered in the affirmative that Pa X was his grandfather
and the man decided to pay for his drink. Everyone in the countryside
began to give him fish and all sorts of gifts all because he was the
grandson of Pa X. This old man wasn't really rich and could not afford
to leave a million in the bank for his grand-children but he left
something money cannot buy-kindness. One question we need to ask
ourselves is this, can people because of us decide to show our children
or family kindness or mercy? What if Pa- X was a wicked man? What would
have been this man’s story? This man decided that day that he will
always be kind and good to people so that his children and
grand-children can reap from it. It is what flows from us that will
return to us directly or indirectly .
ACTION POINT: Let the rivers of good works begin to flow from you.
