誰是誰 Who is who

春天到了，院子裏的果樹除了蘋果和小藍莓以外都開花了。今天早晨到後院去拍了幾張照片，有亞洲梨、李子、和櫻桃樹的花。遠看雖然都是一樹的雪白，但仔細觀賞，它們卻都各有自己的特色。你看得出誰是誰嗎？號稱喜愛果樹的老公看了又看，最後卻完全槓龜，明顯地一個只看果子，不懂得賞花的人。
It's Spring time. The fruit tress in our back yard, except for blueberry and apple tree, are blooming madly right now. I took some pictures of the flowers of Asian pear, plum, and cherry this morning. Even though they all look similar from a distance, but if you watch them carefully, they all have their own characteristics. Can you tell who is who? David tried very hard but got them all wrong even though he claimed that he loves fruit trees.

解答請看這裡。

讓我愛而不受感戴 Let Me Love And Not Be Respected

今天阿布問我又沒有聽過這首歌，聽過也唱過的，就在我剛信主之初，也曾經被深深地感動過。這首歌的詩詞是由倪柝聲弟兄根據聖法蘭西斯（St. Francis of Assisi,1182-1226）的一首禱告所翻譯的，由林知微（Mimi Lam）在1976年譜曲。相信阿布是想藉由這首詩歌來提醒我們一些事情。仔細看看這個聖徒的禱告，相信我們都會有所領悟與感動。

讓我愛而不受感戴，讓我事而不受賞賜；
讓我盡力而不被人記，讓我受苦而不被人睹。
只知傾酒，不知飲酒；只想擘餅，不想留餅。
倒出生命來使人得幸福，捨棄安寧而使他人得舒服。

不受體恤，不受眷顧，不受推崇，不受安撫；
寧可淒涼，寧可孤苦，寧可無告，寧可被負。
願意以血淚作為冠冕的代價，願意受虧損來度旅客的生涯。
因為當祢活在這裏時，祢也是如此過日子，
欣然忍受一切的損失好使近祢的人得安適。

我今不知道前途究有多遠，這條道路一去就不再還原；
所以讓我學習祢那樣的完全，時常被人辜負心不生怨。
求祢在這慘淡時期之內，擦乾我一切暗中的眼淚；
學習知道祢是我的安慰，並求別人喜悅以度此生。

Let me love and not be respected;
Let me serve and not be rewarded;
Let me labor and not be remembered;
Let me suffer and not be regarded.

`Tis the pouring, not the drinking;
`Tis the breaking, not the keeping --
A life suffering to seek others' blessing.
A life loving and true comfort giving.

Not expecting, pity and concern,
Not accepting, solace and applause;
Even lonely, even forgotten.
Even wordless, even forsaken.

Tears and blood my price
For the righteous crown shall be;
Losing all, my cost for a faithful pilgrim's life.
'Twas the life, O Lord, that You chose to live
In those days when on earth You walked.
Gladly suffering all injuries and loss
So that all might draw near and repose.

I cannot see how much farther I shall go;
Still I press on, knowing there is no return.
Let me follow Your pattern, so perfect and true,
Bearing ingratitudes without complaint.

In this time of trial, oh my Lord, I pray
That You'd wipe all my hidden tears away;
Let me learn, O Lord, You are my reward,
Let me be others' blessing all my days.

波特蘭夜未眠 Sleepless in Portland

昨晚Vivian又在趕功課，清晨不知道幾點鐘作業做到一半，撐不下去了倒到床上昏睡過去。這種戲碼已經上演了許多次了，每當她作業做不完時，一般來説會有以下的幾種情形發生：
1。她徹夜趕工，等作完了天也亮了，然後體力不支，我打電話到學校幫她請假。
2。她寫到一半不小心睡着，早上起來傻眼，我再寫張請求原諒的條子讓她帶去給老師。例如：兩個禮拜以前的某一天。
3。她寫到一半不小心睡着，我清晨從夢中驚醒，趕快叫她起來完成功課。例如：今天早上。
4。她寫到一半放棄，撥鬧鐘，預定早上起來繼續趕工，而往往聽到鬧鐘後起來的人是我。她已經很久沒這麼做了，想必是總算有了自知之明。
5。她寫到一半放棄，要求我早上四點叫她起來繼續努力。
6。我坐鎮在她旁邊盯著她，等她功課做完了以後我們一起入睡。這個最常發生。
還有一種，我們只試過一次 - 有一天她拚到淩晨三點，我看她要把功課做完是沒有希望了，乾脆一不做二不休，叫她先睡再説，然後第二天我幫她打電話到學校告病。早上等她睡足了，剛好留在家裏練琴。。。好像有點惡劣。
説起來她也很辛苦，除了學校功課、鋼琴、大提琴、樂團以外，有時還得為了樂團表演、合唱團比賽等等活動請假，回來就得補作業。當然也有一部分原因是動作慢做事又龜毛（講究），不懂得把握時間，老把事情留到最後一分鐘才做，喜歡和朋友網上哈拉等。有時真想狠下心把她樂團停掉，但那又是她真正喜歡做的事，每週兩次的練習時間，除了沉浸在音樂裏以外，還可以跟志同道合好朋友們見面交流。唉，真難辦！她下一年選的都是IB的課，想到我的生活會越來越坎坷，無眠的夜也將會越來越多，就好想哭哦！

彤妮 Toni

今天是彤妮 (Toni)在我們公司的最後一天，所以我們幾個同事中午利用午餐的時間去給她餞行。
彤妮和她先生住在波特蘭西邊二十幾英里的郊區，擁有一個很大的農場，養了幾匹馬，幾條狗，和幾隻貓。他們沒有小孩，倆人都在教會的敬拜隊裏事奉，先生彈電吉他，她自己則是個貝斯手。他們同時也在兒童和青少年事工裏服務了十年。彤妮做事非常謹慎，注重細節，能力又強，我也曾從她那兒學到不少東西。今年是她在我們公司服務的第十六年，但她已經與馬共舞二十幾個年頭了，所以她的下一個生涯規劃是當個騎馬教練和給人和馬的醫療按摩師。
她向我們描述了她如何與馬兒們溝通。她說馬就像個小孩子一般，同樣會試牠們主人的尺度、耍性子，她又是如何對馬兒們恩威並施，了解也管教牠們。有次她管教一匹馬，命令牠站在一塊地毯的範圍裏，牠卻故意伸出一蹄放在界限之外，看看她會不會反對。當她給馬兒們按摩過後，牠們也會知道舒服並認得她，見到她來也會興奮得和她説話。有的馬兒按摩到一半時開步就走，那時她就明白是停止的時候了。有時馬兒情緒不好時，她會讓牠們在馬場上盡情地狂奔，疏解情緒，跑完幾圈後又會回到她身邊向她撒嬌。看著她臉上洋溢著得其所哉的笑容和光彩，我就深深地為她高興。
離開公司後，至少開頭的一兩年，她會需要更努力開創她的下一個事業，但是我相信以她的聰慧和認真的做事態度，一定會開闢出一片屬於她自己的天空。我會想念她燦爛的笑容，也願神祝福她的人生，與她同行。

Today is the last day that Toni is with our company, so some of us had a farewell lunch with her today.
Toni and her husband own a farm in a small town more than 20 miles west of Portland. They have some horses, a couple of dogs, and some cats. They don't have children; both serve in the worship team of their current church. She plays bass and he plays guitar. They also work with the children and youth of that church for about 10 years. Toni pays attention to detail and is a very careful person, she is also very knowledgeable with her field, so I have learned quite a lot from her in the past. She has worked for our company about 16 years but she has worked with the horses for more than 20 years, she her next career is to be a horse riding coach and masseuse for human and horse. Her goal is to "helping humans and equines reach and maintain their physical potential" :)
She told us how she interacts with the horses. She said that horses are like children, they try to stretch their boundaries, test their master’s limit, and also have their own temper. She also described how she tries to understand them and discipline them. She said once she was disciplining one horse and commanding ‘her’ to stand on the carpet, but ‘she’ purposely put one foot on the concrete area and watched her reaction... After she had done massage for some horses, they would recognize her and ‘talk’ to her when she walks over. Some horses would just walk away in the middle of the massage session, and she knows it is time to stop when that happens. Sometimes she set the horse loose to run on the court as they want when they are in bad mood or need to release their energy. After many laps, they would calm down and come to her again. I feel so happy for her when I saw the sparkles in her eyes and smile on her face as she talked about all of these.
I think she will need to work her way into her new career in the beginning couple of years. But I believe she will reach her goal soon. I will miss her bright smile, and I pray that God will walk with her and bless her abundantly.

難過的一天 An uncomfortable day

昨天早晨起床時感覺還可以，只覺得胃怪怪的，而且一點食欲都沒有，起初還以為是前一天晚上吃的化痰葯在作怪。到中午時開始覺得發冷，全身骨頭酸痛，那時心裏想自己怎麼這麼沒用，上個月才感冒過，怎麼這麼不堪一擊，禮拜天累了一下就又被打敗了。下午送Vivian去樂團練習時開始感覺自己快要不行了，但至少還可以邊開車邊聽她說故事。等到Vivian進去練習後，試著想在車裏睡一下，但怎麽弄都不對，除了全身發冷以外，胃裏頭排山倒海，真是非常難過，後來看看情況不對，跑到車外大吐特吐一番，吐到胃都快要擠出來了才停止，回到車上裹在毯子和羽毛衣裏一睡就是一個多小時。
開車回家前身體真的是很不舒服，我很擔心萬一在路上出狀況怎麼辦，高速公路不是說停就可以停的，甚至還想是不是該叫她爸爸來接我們，也想過也許該請別人送她回去，別讓她跟我一起冒險。。。但考慮到複雜的情況後，決定先禱告然後按照原定計劃，並要Vivian幫我眼觀四面耳聽八方，自己開車回家。一路上胃不時地抽痛，所以我整個人是縮著開車的，再加上穿著羽毛衣，這個白眼兒狼Vivian還笑我看起來像沒脖子的企鵝，趁我沒力氣的時候幫我照相。
回到家後，我是爬著上樓、爬著上牀的，一倒到床上就昏睡過去，直到今晨。起來後看看鏡子裏，臉上由於嘔吐時用力過猛，微血管破裂，所以都是紅點點，量量體重，掉了六磅。心想還好自己平時有戰備儲糧，消耗一天還撐得住。所以，平時有備胎的人有福了，因為他們必能承受小病小痛的打擊。