January 16

"And there arose a great storm." (Mark 4:37)

Some of the storms of life come suddenly: a great sorrow, a bitter disappointment, a crushing defeat. Some come slowly. They appear upon the ragged¹ edges of the horizon no larger than a man's hand, but, trouble that seems so insignificant² spreads until it covers the sky and overwhelms us.

Yet it is in the storm that God equips us for service. When God wants an oak He plants it on the moor³ where the storms will shake it and the rains will beat down upon it, and it is in the midnight battle with elements that the oak wins its rugged⁴ fiber⁵ and becomes the king of the forest.

When God wants to make a man He puts him into some storm. The history of mankind is always rough and rugged. No man is made until he has been out into the surge of the storm and found the sublime⁶ fulfillment of the prayer: "O God, take me, break me, make me."

The beauties of nature come after the storm. The rugged beauty of the mountain is born in a storm, and the heroes of life are the storm-swept and battle-scarred.

You have been in the storms and swept by the blasts. Have they left you broken, weary, beaten in the valley, or have they lifted you to the sunlit summits of a richer, deeper, more abiding⁷ manhood and womanhood? Have they left you with more sympathy with the storm-swept and the battle-scarred? ━Selected.

The wind that blows can never kill

The tree that God plants;

It bloweth east, it bloweth west,

The tender leaves have little rest.

But any wind that blows is best.

The tree that God plants

Strikes deeper root, grows higher still,

Spreads greater boughs⁸, for God's good will

Meets all its wants.

There is no storm hath power to blast

The tree God knows;

No thunderbolt, nor beating rain,

Nor lightning flash, nor hurricane;

When they are spent, it doth remain,

The tree God knows,

Through every tempest standeth fast,

And from its first day to its last

Still fairer grows.



━Selected.

　

一月十六日

　　“忽然起了暴风雨” （可四：37直译）

　　在信徒的生活中，有许多风雨都是突然之间起的：忧患，失望，失败，病痛等等。也有许多风雨是渐渐而来的。起初只有手掌那么大的一点，后来渐渐给我们威胁。

　　虽然如此，这些暴风雨都是神所许可的，为要我们得益处。神愿意有橡树，祂就栽了一棵，祂让它在风雨中飘摇…纔能使它根深，干高，成为林中之王。

　　照样，神愿意造就一个可用之材，神就把他放在风雨之中，让他经过风雨的生活。世上许多作大事业的伟人，都是经历过艰难和痛苦的，神国中的伟人，也是如此。如果神要用一个人，祂必定会先答应了这人奉献的祷告：“主啊，拿我，劈我，用我。”

　　然而风雨一过，自然的美显得更完全了。天空中饰着彩色的虹，草木的叶上镶着闪光的珠子。照样，风雨之后，信徒穿上圣洁的生活，脸上带着属天的光彩。亲爱的，你经历过神所预备的风雨么？你愿意免去一时的痛苦，从风雨中逃出来呢？还是让风雨抬你到更高，更丰的生命中去？

吹来吹去的风，

不能吹倒神所栽的树木。

它吹向西，吹向东，

柔软的树叶不断战抖觳觫，

但决不会使树木连根倾覆，

神所种的树木，

根植得更深，枝干更壮硕可靠，

长得更大更高，

神的美意无一不顾到。

凡是神所属意的树，

任何狂风都摧毁不了；

无论是疾雷急雨，

无论是霹雳狂飙，

当暴风雨过后，

神的树依然屹立，

在磨难中矫健美好，

它的一生，始终欣欣向荣。

━选

1 ragged   

adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的

参考例句：

• A ragged shout went up from the small crowd.这一小群人发出了刺耳的喊叫。
• Ragged clothing infers poverty.破衣烂衫意味着贫穷。

2 insignificant   

adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的

参考例句：

• In winter the effect was found to be insignificant.在冬季，这种作用是不明显的。
• This problem was insignificant compared to others she faced.这一问题与她面临的其他问题比较起来算不得什么。

3 moor   

n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊

参考例句：

• I decided to moor near some tourist boats.我决定在一些观光船附近停泊。
• There were hundreds of the old huts on the moor.沼地上有成百上千的古老的石屋。

4 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

5 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。

6 sublime   

adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的

参考例句：

• We should take some time to enjoy the sublime beauty of nature.我们应该花些时间去欣赏大自然的壮丽景象。
• Olympic games play as an important arena to exhibit the sublime idea.奥运会，就是展示此崇高理念的重要舞台。

7 abiding   

adj.永久的，持久的，不变的

参考例句：

• He had an abiding love of the English countryside.他永远热爱英国的乡村。
• He has a genuine and abiding love of the craft.他对这门手艺有着真挚持久的热爱。

8 boughs   

大树枝( bough的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The green boughs glittered with all their pearls of dew. 绿枝上闪烁着露珠的光彩。
• A breeze sighed in the higher boughs. 微风在高高的树枝上叹息着。