EARTHLY possessions cannot satisfy. It is impossible to get enough of this world’s goods or its fleeting honors to quiet the yearning for more. We have all laughed over the story of the Quaker who, in order to impress this lesson upon his neighbors, put up a sign on a vacant piece of ground next to his house, which read, “I will give this lot to anyone who is really satisfied.” A wealthy farmer, as he rode by, read it. Stopping, he said, “Since my Quaker friend is going to give that piece away, I may as well have it as anyone else. I am rich. I have all I need, so I am able to qualify.” He went up to the door, and when the aged Friend appeared, explained why he had come. “And is thee really satisfied?” asked the owner of the lot. “I surely am,” was the reply. “I have all I need, and am well satisfied.” “Friend,” asked the other, “if thee is satisfied, what does thee want with my lot?” The question revealed the covetousness that was hidden in the heart.
“Am I not enough, Mine own? enough, Mine own, for thee?
Hath the world its palace towers,
Garden blades of magic flowers,
Where thou fain wouldst be?
Fair things and false are there,
False things but fair.
All shalt thou find at last,
Only in Me.
Am I not enough. Mine own? I, forever and alone.
I, needing thee?”
—G. Ter Steegen.