|
經文：「他們必如鷹展翅上騰。」（賽40:31） 曾經有過一個寓言，說鳥類最初被造的時候，是沒有翅膀的。神將翅膀造好了放在牠們面前，對他們說：「來，戴起這些翅膀。」 那時的鳥類也有豐美的羽毛和悅耳的鳴聲；牠們能唱悠揚的樂音，牠們的羽毛能在日光下發出光彩，只是無法展翅翱翔。神吩咐牠們戴起翅膀的時候，牠們起初還不大願意，但是不久就順服，用嘴尖啄起翅膀，安置在肩頭上。 剛開始，肩頭上的壓力似乎很重，背著也覺得費力，但是很快地牠們將翅膀展開，領悟了使用翅膀的方法，於是就能展翅高飛。就在這一刻，重擔變成了翅膀！ 親愛的讀者，這個比喻在說：我們就是那些本來沒有翅膀的禽鳥，我們的工作和職分是神所預備，為要幫助我們飛翔的翅膀。我們本會因著眼前的重擔而畏縮；但是只要我們願意背負自己的重擔，它們便會成為我們的翅膀；使我們可以向著神飛去。 所以，若是我們可以歡喜地憑愛心負起當面對的重擔，那麼就沒有一件重擔不能變成我們的福分。神原是命定使用我們的工作來幫助我們；所以若是拒絕一個重擔，就是拒絕一個新的機會。--密勒 J.R.Miller 只要是神親手放在我們肩上的重擔，無論多麼沉重，都是可喜愛的。--費勃爾 F.W.Faber 新譯｜荒漠甘泉讀書會
|
|
◇◇◇
Scripture: "They shall mount up with wings as eagles" (Isa.40:31). There is a fable about the way the birds got their wings at the beginning. They were first made without wings. Then God made the wings and put them down before the wingless birds and said to them, "Come, take up these burdens and bear them." The birds had lovely plumage and sweet voices; they could sing, and their feathers gleamed in the sunshine, but they could not soar in the air. They hesitated at first when bidden to take up the burdens that lay at their feet, but soon they obeyed, and taking up the wings in their beaks, laid them on their shoulders to carry them. For a little while the load seemed heavy and hard to bear, but presently, as they went on carrying the burdens, folding them over their hearts, the wings grew fast to their little bodies, and soon they discovered how to use them, and were lifted by them up into the air--the weights became wings. It is a parable. We are the wingless birds, and our duties and tasks are the pinions God has made to lift us up and carry us heavenward. We look at our burdens and heavy loads, and shrink from them; but as we lift them and bind them about our hearts, they become wings, and on them we rise and soar toward God. There is no burden which, if we lift it cheerfully and bear it with love in our hearts, will not become a blessing to us. God means our tasks to be our helpers; to refuse to bend our shoulders to receive a load, is to decline a new opportunity for growth. --J. R. Miller Blessed is any weight, however overwhelming, which God has been so good as to fasten with His own hand upon our shoulders. --F. W. Faber ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman
|