17/02/2008

蝴蝶的教训


　　这是一个小故事。故事说某年某月的某一天，一个闲人闲来无事，坐在一个角落里静静地观望着面前一个普通的蝴蝶茧。那个蝴蝶茧刚刚结束了封闭的状态，在茧的一端张开了一个小小的洞。这只蝴蝶做了数小时的挣扎似乎就是为了让身体穿出那个小小的洞。然而，一切都是徒劳，蝴蝶没有能够破茧而出。茧里的蝴蝶安静下来，好象它已经用尽了所有的力气，无法再做任何的努力了。

　　于是，这位闲人决定来帮助这只可怜的蝴蝶，他拿起一把剪刀，把茧给剪开了。蝴蝶轻易地出来了，可是，它身体干瘪，翅膀无力。帮助它的闲人想：一会儿会好起来的，它的身体会变得饱满有力，它的翅膀会变得坚强，会让它飞向花丛林间的。

　　可惜没有，闲人的想象并没有发生。这只可怜的蝴蝶终身只能爬行，永不能飞翔。原来蝴蝶必须通过艰难的“破茧而出”的过程，只有在那不屈不挠地让身体通过茧上的那个小小的洞口的过程中，它身体的溶液才能转移到翅膀上，使身体和翅膀都变得强壮，这样一旦破茧而出，蝴蝶便可以飞翔。闲人的好心好意破坏了蝴蝶自强的过程，毁坏了蝴蝶的一生。

　　故事的用意并不是指责闲人的帮助，相反：Some times，struggles are exactly what we need in our life. 有时，挣扎正是我们生活必需的一部分。如果上帝让我们轻轻松松没有波澜地来消费时光，我们可能永远不会表现出我们应有的坚强，我们永远也无力飞翔。

　　我们祈求力量，上帝送给我们困难，让我们在克服困难中强壮。

　　我们祈求智慧，上帝送给我们问题，让我们在解决问题中变得聪明。

　　我们祈求富裕，上帝送给我们大脑和肌肉，让我们在工作中致富。

　　我们祈求勇气，上帝送给我们磨难，让我们在征服磨难中勇敢坚强。

　　我们祈求爱情，上帝送给我们有难的人们，让我们在帮助中得到关怀和爱护。

　　我们祈求好运，上帝送给我们机会，让我们把握。

　　I received nothing I wanted，but I received everything I needed. 从上帝那里，我们收到的没有一件是我们要求的，但每一件都是我们需要的。

　　Live life without fear，confront all obstacles and evince that you can overcome them. 活着，便不要畏惧，要勇于面对一切生活的磨难，并清晰地显示出你克服重重困难，并一次比一次更坚强！

名人信仰格言

牛顿 Sir Isaac Newton（英．物理学家及数学家）：

这极其美丽的宇宙系统，只能由于大智大能者的管辖下而产生。
若无任何其他证据证明上帝的存在，单单大拇指这一项就可说服我相信。
若我(对社会)曾有什么新贡献和新发现，那不是因为我有什么天才，而是我较有耐心研究。

爱因斯坦 Albert Einstein（美．物理学家）：

科学只能确定怎样，而不能确定该怎样。其范畴之外，各种价值的判断仍是必需的。
最美丽的东西是神秘的。它是艺术与科学的根源。
我们对生命只有两种看法：全非神迹，或都是神迹。我相信后者。

罗素 G.W. Russell（爱尔兰．诗人）：

不科学的人才会信唯物论，因为他们思想迟钝；大自然中遍满神的足迹，他们居然不察，可见眼目昏花。

Streams In the Desert for Feb. 17

”The land which I do give them, even the children of Israel.” (Joshua 1:2.)
GOD here speaks in the immediate present. It is not something He is going to do, but something He does do, this moment. So faith ever speaks. So God ever gives. So He is meeting you today, in the present moment. This is the test of faith. So long as you are waiting for a thing, hoping for it, looking for it, you are not believing. It may be hope, it may be earnest desire, but it is not faith; for “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The command in regard to believing prayer is the present tense. “When ye pray, believe that ye receive the things that ye desire, and ye shall have them.” Have we come to that moment Have we met God in His everlasting NOW? ---Joshua, by Simpson.

True faith counts on God, and believes before it sees. Naturally, we want some evidence that our petition is granted before we believe; but when we walk by faith we need no other evidence than God’s Word. He has spoken, and according to our faith it shall be done unto us. We shall see because we have believed, and this faith sustains us in the most trying places, when everything around us seems to contradict God’s Word.

The Psalmist says, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of living” (Psa. 27:13). He did not see as yet the Lord’s answer to his prayers, but he believed to see; and this kept him from fainting.

If we have the faith that believes to see, it will keep us from growing discouraged. We shall “laugh at impossibilities,” we shall watch with delight to see how God is going to open up a path through the Red Sea when there is no human way out of our difficulty. It is just in such places of severe testing that our faith grows and strengthens.

Have you been waiting upon God, dear troubled one, during long nights and weary days, and have feared that you were forgotten? Nay, lift up your head, and begin to praise Him even now for the deliverance which is on its way to you. ---Life of Praise.

10/02/2008

爱，创造出力量


随处散播你的爱心，就从对你的家人开始，多一分关爱给你的孩子，你的另一半，然后你的邻居……，让每个接近你的人都有如沐春风的感觉。给别人一个关怀的眼神，一个灿烂的微笑，一个温暖的拥抱，为上帝的仁慈做见证。

——泰瑞莎修女

25年前，有位教社会学的大学教授，曾叫班上学生到巴尔的摩的贫民窟，调查200名男孩的成长背景和生活环境，并对他们未来的发展做一评估，每个学生的结论都是“他毫无出头的机会”。

5年后，另一位教授发现了这份研究，他叫学生做后续调查，看昔日这些男孩今天是何状况。结果根据调查，除了有20名男孩搬离或过世，剩下的180名中有176名成就非凡，其中担任律师、医生或商人的比比皆是。

这位教授在惊讶之余，决定深入调查此事。他拜访了当年曾受评估的年轻人，跟他们请教同一个问题，“你今日会成功的最大原因是什么？”结果他们都不约而同地回答：“因为我遇到了一位好老师。”

这位老师目前仍健在，虽然年迈，但还是耳聪目明，教授找到她后，问她到底有何绝招，能让这些在贫民窟长大的孩子个个出人头地？

这位老太太眼中闪着慈祥的光芒，嘴角带着微笑回答道：“其实也没什么，我爱这些孩子。”

（艾瑞克·布特渥斯）

圣 经 金 句 选

爱是恒久忍耐，又有恩慈；爱是不嫉妒，爱是不自夸，不张狂。(林前 13:4)

如今常存的有信，有望，有爱；这三样，其中最大的是爱。(林前 13:13)

你们作妻子的，当顺服自己的丈夫，如同顺服主。(弗 5:22)

你们作丈夫的，要爱你们的妻子，正如基督爱教会，为教会舍己。(弗 5:25)

Streams in the Desert for Feb.10

“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves.” (Rom. 12:19.)
THERE are seasons when to be still demands immeasurably higher strength than to act. Composure is often the highest result of power. To the vilest and most deadly charges Jesus responded with deep, unbroken silence, such as excited the wonder of the judge and the spectators. To the grossest insults, the most violent ill-treatment and mockery that might well bring indignation into the feeblest heart, He responded with voiceless complacent calmness. Those who are unjustly accused and causelessly ill-treated know what tremendous strength is necessary to keep silence to God.

St. Paul said, “None of these things move me.”

“Men may misjudge thy aim, Think they have cause to blame, Say, thou art wrong; Keep on thy quiet way, Christ is the Judge, not they, Fear not, be strong.”

He did not say, none of these things hurt me. It is one thing to be hurt, and quite another to be moved. St. Paul had a very tender heart. We do not read of any apostles who cried as St. Paul did. It takes a strong man to cry. Jesus wept, and He was the manliest Man that ever lived. So it does not say, none of these things hurt me. But the apostle had determined not to move from what he believed was right. He did not count as we are apt to count; he did not care for ease; he did not care for this mortal life. He cared for only one thing, and that was to be loyal to Christ, to have His smile. To St. Paul, more than to any other man, His work was wages, His smile was Heaven. --- Margaret Bottome.