Have you seen a pond dry up in summer? No? Then perhaps you have looked
into the ink bottle when all the ink had gone, and only some dry black dust
was left in it. What has happened? All the water in the ink has flown away;
the heat has turned it into vapour, which is lighter than air, and so it
has risen up through the air to form part of those snowy clouds which you
love to watch, when the light of the setting sun turns them to crimson and
gold. This change of water into vapour is one of the beautiful things which
we cannot often see, but which is always going on. The rain from heaven
falls upon the thirsty land, making it bring forth and bud, that there may
be bread for us, and food for every living thing; and then, when its work
is done, all that is not wanted goes back again, and is stored up in the
treasure-house of the clouds--nothing is lost.
I remember when we were speaking of this, I asked my children what the
earth would be like if all the rain that fell remained upon it. Chrissie
was the only one who had an answer ready; he said it would soon be a swamp,
and nothing could grow well, and no one could live. We can all understand
that if there were no rain to "satisfy the desolate ground," the earth
would soon be a parched desert; but it is just as true that, while the
rain is such a blessing, if God had not provided for its returning to the
clouds, the earth would indeed become a desolate waste of water.
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