The smallest bark on life’s tumultuous ocean
Will leave a track behind for evermore;
The lightest wave of influence, once in motion,
Extend and widens to the eternal shore.
We should be wary, then, who go before
A myriad yet to be, and we should take
Our bearing carefully, when breakers roar
And fearful tempests gather; one mistake
May wreck unnumbered barks that follow in our wake.
There are things that do not last. They may be beautiful to the eye, but in a moment they are gone, like the snowflake which falls on the water, sparkles for an instant, and then vanishes, leaving no trace. There are many lives running through long days and years which leave nothing to tell the story of their stay in the world. There are those who live a full lifetime and are busy all the while and yet do nothing that will endure. There are even Christian people, St. Paul tells us, who build, too, on the only true foundation, Jesus Christ, and yet all of whose work will be burned up in the final testing. They build wood, hay and stubble into the walls instead of God, silver and precious stones. They will be saved themselves, but so as by fire, all their work being burned up.
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