April 26

"I even reckon all things as pure loss because of the priceless privilege of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." (Phil. 3:8) (Weymouth)

Shining is always costly¹. Light comes only at the cost of that which produces it. An unlit candle does no shining. Burning must come before shining. We cannot be of great use to others without cost to ourselves. Burning suggests suffering. We shrink from pain.

We are apt to feel that we are doing the greatest good in the world when we are strong, and able for active duty, and when the heart and hands are full of kindly² service.

When we are called aside and can only suffer; when we are sick; when we are consumed with pain; when all our activities have been dropped, we feel that we are no longer of use, that we are not doing anything.

But, if we are patient and submissive, it is almost certain that we are a greater blessing³ to the world in our time of suffering and pain than we were in the days when we thought we were doing the most of our work. We are burning now, and shining because we are burning. --Evening Thoughts.

"The glory of tomorrow is rooted in the drudgery⁴ of today."

Many want the glory without the cross, the shining without the burning, but crucifixion comes before coronation.

Have you heard the tale of the aloe plant,

Away in the sunny clime?

By humble⁵ growth of a hundred years

It reaches its blooming time;

And then a wondrous⁶ bud at its crown

Breaks into a thousand flowers;

This floral queen, in its blooming seen,

Is the pride of the tropical bowers⁷,

But the plant to the flower is sacrifice,

For it blooms but once, and it dies.

Have you further heard of the aloe plant,

That grows in the sunny clime;

How every one of its thousand flowers,

As they drop in the blooming time,

Is an infant plant that fastens its roots

In the place where it falls on the ground,

And as fast as they drop from the dying stem,

Grow lively and lovely around?

By dying, it liveth a thousand-fold

In the young that spring from the death of the old.

Have you heard the tale of the pelican⁸,

The Arabs' Gimel el Bahr,

That lives in the African solitudes⁹,

Where the birds that live lonely are?

Have you heard how it loves its tender young,

And cares and toils¹⁰ for their good,

It brings them water from mountain far,

And fishes the seas for their food.

In famine it feeds them--what love can devise!

The blood of its bosom--and, feeding them, dies.

Have you heard this tale--the best of them all--

The tale of the Holy and True,

He dies, but His life, in untold¹¹ souls

Lives on in the world anew;

His seed prevails, and is filling the earth,

As the stars fill the sky above.

He taught us to yield up the love of life,

For the sake of the life of love.

His death is our life, His loss is our gain;

The joy for the tear, the peace for the pain.

--Selected.

　 四月二十六日

“我也将万事当作有损的，因我以认识我主基督耶稣为至宝”（腓三：8）。

　　要发光必须先有损失。发光体受了相当的损失以后，才会有光照出来。烛不燃烧，根本便没有光。有了燃烧，然后才能有光。我们自己若不先有损失，就不能有益于人。燃烧好似人生中的痛苦。信徒必须经过痛苦，然后才能有益于人。可是我们见了痛苦，却常喜欢逃避。

　　当我们被唤到一旁，在苦痛中磨炼的时候，例如病倒了，或煎熬于患难之中，我们所有的活动都遭停止，这种时候，我们觉得自己已不再有何贡献了。

　　但是，假若我们有耐心，肯服从主，我们就可确信，我们在受苦难中，对世界的贡献，更大于活动工作。我们此时正如蜡烛在燃烧，光明灿烂是从燃烧中发出来的。

　　明天的荣耀，是因今天的痛苦。

　　许多人只要荣耀，不要十架；只要发光，不要燃烧；但是我告诉你：十架是冠冕的先锋；没有十架；就没有冠冕。

你可曾听说过，热带有一种名曰“芦荟”植物，无声无臭生长了一百年，才到它开花的时候。顶端长出一个奇妙的蓓蕾，这蓓蕾里开出一千朵美丽的奇葩。成为热带所夸耀花中之后。然而这植物的开花，对它却是牺牲，因为只开一次花，开过就枯萎死亡了。

你可曾更听闻过，热带的植物“芦荟”更奇妙的是，那一千朵花落到地上，立刻在土中生根，成为芦荟的幼苗。也就是在它母株枯萎的时候，花就纷纷落地，于是下一代的芦荟就蓬勃生长了起来。一个生命的死亡，换得了一千个新的生命。

你可曾听说过，在非洲的荒山里，有一种鸟名曰鹈鹉，阿拉伯人称之为“吉美，艾，巴尔”。它对于后一代的爱护，辛劳，甚之牺牲，也是无微不至的。它从遥远的地方，带着泉水给小鸟喝，还从海中捉了鱼作他子女的粮食，在找不到食物饥荒时节，他竟用自己胸口的血，去喂饱小鸟，自己由此而牺牲了生命。

你已听到了芦荟与鹈鹉之牺牲自己，以培植更多新的生命，使我们联想到一个更伟大的故事，就是我们的救主耶稣，神圣与真理的化身，他牺牲了，但他的生命，永留在人间，在无数灵魂中获得了新生，他那生命的种子，播满了大地，多得象星星布满了天空。他教我们为了爱的生命，放弃对生命的留恋。他的牺牲成了我们的光明，他的损失，即是我们的收获，也是流泪者的欢乐，痛苦者的安慰。

1 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

2 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

3 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

4 drudgery   

n.苦工，重活，单调乏味的工作

参考例句：

• People want to get away from the drudgery of their everyday lives.人们想摆脱日常生活中单调乏味的工作。
• He spent his life in pointlessly tiresome drudgery.他的一生都在做毫无意义的烦人的苦差事。

5 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

6 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。

7 bowers   

n.（女子的）卧室( bower的名词复数 )；船首锚；阴凉处；鞠躬的人

参考例句：

• If Mr Bowers is right, low government-bond yields could lose their appeal and equities could rebound. 如果鲍尔斯先生的预计是对的，那么低收益的国债将会失去吸引力同时股价将会反弹。 来自互联网

8 pelican   

n.鹈鹕，伽蓝鸟

参考例句：

• The pelican has a very useful beak.鹈鹕有一张非常有用的嘴。
• This pelican is expected to fully recover.这只鹈鹕不久就能痊愈。

9 solitudes   

n.独居( solitude的名词复数 )；孤独；荒僻的地方；人迹罕至的地方

参考例句：

• Africa is going at last to give up the secret of its vast solitudes. 非洲无边无际的荒野的秘密就要被揭穿了。 来自辞典例句
• The scientist has spent six months in the solitudes of the Antarctic. 这位科学家已经在人迹罕至的南极待了六个月了。 来自互联网

10 toils   

网

参考例句：

• It did not declare him to be still in Mrs. Dorset's toils. 这并不表明他仍陷于多赛特夫人的情网。
• The thief was caught in the toils of law. 这个贼陷入了法网。

11 untold   

adj.数不清的，无数的

参考例句：

• She has done untold damage to our chances.她给我们的机遇造成了不可估量的损害。
• They suffered untold terrors in the dark and huddled together for comfort.他们遭受着黑暗中的难以言传的种种恐怖，因而只好挤在一堆互相壮胆。