May 23

When the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived. — 2 Kgs 13:21

Of course this was a miracle. The incident illustrates the truth that a good man’s influence lives after him.

There is a story of an old monk who was shipwrecked and cast upon a desert island. He had with him a package of seeds which he scattered upon the bare island. Soon afterward he died there, but twenty years later, some persons coming to the island found it covered from side to side with waving harvests and luxuriant fruit–trees, the result of the scattering of the seeds from the monk’s hand twenty years ago.

So it is with those who live well: wherever they go, they drop seeds which spring up into beauty.

There is a legend which says that when the Empress Helena was searching for the true cross, three crosses were found. They brought a dead body and laid it in turn upon the crosses. When it rested upon the true cross, it became alive. This is only a legend, but it illustrates the truth that the power of Christ always gives life and healing.