The lesson applies to other things besides bread!

(J.R. Miller, "Evening Thoughts" 1907)

"Gather the fragments that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." John 6:12

"Waste not, want not," says the proverb.

It seems remarkable that He who could so easily multiply the few loaves into an abundant meal, should be so particular about saving the fragments that remained left over. But He would teach us economy by His own example.

The lesson applies to other things besides bread. We should never waste anything! Many people waste whole years of time in the little fragments which they lose every day. If, at the end of a year, they could gather up all these fragments, they would have many basketfuls of precious pieces of golden time.

In mints where gold is coined, the sweepings of the floor, the settlings of the water in which the men wash their hands, the very smoke from the furnaces, are all carefully swept through for fine particles of precious gold; and during the years large sums are recovered in this way.

If only we would learn to care as scrupulously for the fragments of the precious things which pass through our hands, we would be far richer at the end of our life.