Tracts: Giving Them With Thought and Timing
Did you ever notice how differently people use tracts? One man will buy a large supply without any knowledge of their contents, and give them away on all hands, with a general hope that the little book may do good, and with a feeling of relief that, whatever the result, he has done his duty in the matter, he has given one hundred tracts in the month. Another will have a supply much smaller than his neighbor’s, but will include only the best, often several copies of each. He does not parade them, or give them in every direction; he gives his own thought with them. He waits till some special occasion opens the way for the word spoken in one of his little treasures, then he drops it in a way so kindly and sympathising that it will be read from gratitude if from no other feeling, and leaves it to do its work. Do you think waiting tedious and rather lazy? If you try it, you will be surprised to see how often the special occasions come to open some heart for the good seed. Life is crammed with occasions when good may be done, but we are so used to passing them carelessly by that we are apt to think there are none. If we could stand near to Christ and see life through the atmosphere that surrounds him, many things now great in our eyes would look very insignificant, and many things that we call small would take the first rank. Only by drawing near to him can we learn to catch the time for doing his work when all things are made ready for it. Only in the light of the Sun of Righteousness are our weak eyes able to see a little of the opportunity that lies around us. To the soul that watches for the time to be useful, waiting is never tedious nor lazy; new calls for action come like the stars at night, and one that often comes unexpectedly is given by the opening of a niche in which to drop just the right tract. Let us distribute tracts wisely and discriminatingly, as they that must give account.