|
「身生的父都是暫隨己意管教我們，唯有萬靈的父管教我們，是要我們得益處，使我們在祂的聖潔上有分。」（聖經希伯來書十二章 10 節）
康諾氏所寫的書中，說有一個山野少女葛文的故事。
葛文頑皮任性，她在某一日遇到了一場意外，成了殘廢。臥病在床第中，性情更加暴躁，當她在怨尤人的時後，「天的響導」來看她，所謂「天的響導」是山中居民對傳教士的尊敬稱呼。
傳教士給她講了一個峽谷的預言，他說：地球最初的時候，只有一望無際的原野，並沒有峽谷。原野的主人，有一天外出散步，看見大地上只長著青草，就問原野道；「你的花在那裡？」原野回答說：「主人，我沒有種子。」
於是主人吩咐禽鳥把各類花的種子帶來，四處播種。不久原野上就開出了番紅玫瑰、水豆花、毛莨花、向日葵、紅今蘭，以及一些耐熱的夏季花卉。主人看了很高興，但他找不到最心愛的幾種花，於是他對原野說：「還有鐵線蓮、斗菜、紫羅蘭、白頭翁，各種風尾草和開花的灌木在那裡呢？」
他又吩咐禽鳥把所有的種子帶來，四處播種。但主人再來的時候，還是找不到他最心愛的幾種花，於是他說：「那些最可愛的花在哪裡？」
原野悲哀的說：「主人，我無法保存這些花，因為狂風拼命的吹刮，烈陽炙烤著我的胸膛，這些花忍不住原野的氣候，它們都零落凋萎了。」
於是主人吩咐閃電劈開原野的胸懷。原野在劇痛中顫抖哀號，為那黝黑而凹凸不平的裂口，悲痛呻吟了很多日子。
由於河水湧進了裂口，把肥沃的泥土帶了進來，禽鳥再把種子帶來，在那峽谷中播種。過了一段長的時間之後，粗糙的岩石上，鋪滿了柔軟的青苔和綿延的藤蔓，各處角落，都垂掛著鐵線蓮和斗菜、碩壯的榆樹、仰起粗大枝幹、升向高空的陽光、樹根附近盤屈著矮杉和風仙花，到處都有紫羅蘭、白頭翁和孔雀草在生長開花，峽谷終於成了主人所尋求的安息、平安和快樂的心愛之地了。
傳教士講完故事之後，就對她說：「聖靈所結的果子，也可以謂之聖靈之花，包括愛、喜樂和平安、堅忍、溫和等等，其中有些只能在峽谷生長。」
「只能在峽谷裡生長的是什麼花呢？」葛文輕聲問。傳教士答道：「溫和、謙卑、忍耐，其如愛、喜樂和平安，雖能在原野開放，但若生長在峽谷裡，它們將更美麗，更芬芳。」
葛文默默躺了好一會，然後嘴唇顫抖地自言自語道：「在我的峽谷裡沒有花，只有粗陋的岩石。」
「親愛的葛文，總有一天它們會開出花來，主會發現，我們也會看見到。」
親愛的，當你淪入你的峽谷時，請記著這句話！
************************
"For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." (Heb. 12:10.)
IN one of Ralph Connor's books he tells a story of Gwen. Gwen was a wild, wilful lassie and one who had always been accustomed to having her own way. then one day she met with a terrible accident which crippled her for life. She became very rebellious and in the murmuring state she was visited by the Sky Pilot, as the missionary among the mountaineers was termed.
He told her the parable of the canyon. "At first there were no canyons, but only the broad, open prairie. One day the Master of the Prairie, walking over his great lawns, where were only grasses, asked the Prairie, Where are your flowers?' and the prairie said, Master I have no seeds.'
"Then he spoke to the birds, and they carried seeds of every kind of flower and strewed them far and wide, and soon the prairie bloomed with crocuses and roses and buffalo beans and the yellow crowfoot and the wild sunflowers and the red lilies all summer long. Then the Master came and was well pleased; but he missed the flowers he loved best of all, and he said to the Prairie: Where are the clematis and the columbine, the sweet violets and wind-flowers, and all the ferns and flowering shrubs?'
And again he spoke to the birds, and again they carried all the seeds and scattered them far and wide. But, again, when the Master came he could not find the flowers he loved best of all, and he said:
"Where are those my sweetest flowers?' and the prairie cried sorrowfully:
"Oh, Master, I cannot keep the flowers, for the winds sweep fiercely, and the sun beats upon my breast, and they wither up and fly away.'
"Then the Master spoke to the Lightning, and with one swift blow the Lightning cleft the prairie to the heart. And the Prairie rocked and groaned in agony, and for many a day moaned bitterly over the black, jagged, gaping wound.
"But the river poured its waters through the cleft, and carried down deep black mould, and once more the birds carried seeds and strewed them in the canyon. And after a long time the rough rocks were decked out with soft mosses and trailing vines, and all the nooks were hung with clematis and columbine, and great elms lifted their huge tops high up into the sunlight, and down about their feet clustered the low cedars and balsams, and everywhere the violets and wind-flower and naiden-hair grew and bloomed, till the canyon became the Master's favorit place for rest and peace and joy."
Then the Sky Pilot read to her: "The fruit─I'll read flowers'─of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness─and some of these grow only in the canyon."
"Which are the canyon flowers?" asked Gwen softly, and the Pilot answered: " Gentleness, meekness, longsuffering; but though the others, love, joy, peace, bloom in the open, yet never with so rich a bloom and so sweet a perfume as in the canyon."
For a long time Gwen lay quite still, and then said wistfully, who her lips trembled: "There are no flowers in my canyon, but only ragged rocks."
"Some day they will bloom, Gwen dear; the Master will find them, and we, to shall see them."
Beloved, when you come to your canyon, remember!
|