ONE day while the children were on the shore with Aunt Emily, they noticed a man with a basket on his back, walking in the sea near the shore, pushing something before him.
“What is he doing?” asked the children.
“He is catching shrimps.”
“Shrimps like we have for supper?” asked little Owen: “how does he catch them?”
“He has a net attached to a strong frame, and this he pushes before him along the sand, and catches the shrimps that are hopping about there. When he thinks that the net must be pretty full, he lifts it up, and putting the shrimps in the basket he goes on again.
Owen was very eager to see what had been caught, and the fisherman good-naturedly took a shrimp out of the basket, and showed it to the little boy.
“Is that a shrimp?” he exclaimed. “Why, it is not a bit like the shrimps in the stores; they are red, and all curled up.”
“That is because they have been boiled. This is how a shrimp looks when it is in the sea, it is the boiling that makes it curl up.
“You see it wears a sort of coat of mail to protect it; it is not as hard as the crab or lobster, but it just suits the shrimp, for it is a light, little thing, and dances along the edge of the sand as happy as can be.”
These things may well remind us of what God’s Word says, “O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.” Psa. 104: 24, 25.
However wonderful all His works are on the earth and in the sea, none are to be compared to His wonderful love in the gift of His Son, the Lord Jesus, to die for us, so that we should not bear our own judgment for our sins.
Have you thought of this wonderful love to you? Perhaps you doubt that God loves you. I suppose each one of my little readers is ready to own that he has sinned. If so, I have a good verse for you, that will show you that God loves you. It is,
Do you believe that? If you do, you can say, “God loves me for He gave Christ to die for me, a sinner.” That wonderful act of God’s surpasses all the wonders in His creation.
May we, who believe in Jesus, have responsive hearts for all that He has done for us and seek to live now for Him.
ML 06/23/1918