Dec 24

“And Isaac went out to meditate in the fields at eventide” (Gen. 24:63)

We should be better Christians if we were more alone; we should do more if we attempted less, and spent more time in retirement, and quiet waiting upon God. The world is too much with us; we are afflicted with the idea that we are doing nothing unless we are fussily running to and fro; we do not believe in "the calm retreat, the silent shade." As a people, we are of a very practical turn of mind; "we believe," as someone has said, "in having all our irons in the fire, and consider the time not spent between the anvil and the fire as lost, or much the same as lost." Yet no time is more profitably spent than that which is set apart for quiet musing, for talking with God, for looking up to Heaven. We cannot have too many of these open spaces in life, hours in which the soul is left accessible to any sweet thought or influence it may please God to send.

“Reverie,” it has been said, “is the Sunday of the mind.” Let us often in these days give our mind a "Sunday," in which it will do no manner of work but simply lie still, and look upward, and spread itself out before the Lord like Gideon's fleece, to be soaked and moistened with the dews of Heaven. Let there be intervals when we shall do nothing, think nothing, plan nothing, but just lay ourselves on the green lap of nature and “rest awhile.”

Time so spent is not lost time. The fisherman cannot be said to be losing time when he is mending his nets, nor the mower when he takes a few minutes to sharpen his scythe at the top of the ridge. City men cannot do better than follow the example of Isaac, and, as often as they can, get away from the fret and fever of life into fields. Wearied with the heat and din, the noise and bustle, communion with nature is very grateful; it will have a calming, healing influence. A walk through the fields, a saunter by the seashore or across the daisy-sprinkled meadows, will purge your life from sordidness, and make the heart beat with new joy and hope.━Selected

The little cares that fretted me,I lost them yesterday, Out in the field with God.”

Christmas Eve

BELLS ACROSS THE SNOW

“0 Christmas, merry Christmas,

Is it really come again,

With its memories and greetings,

With its joy and with its pain!

There's a minor in the carol

And a shadow in the light,

And a spray of cypress twining

With the holly wreath tonight.

And the hush is never broken,

By laughter light and low,

As we listen in the starlight,

To the "bells across the snow.“

“0 Christmas, merry Christmas,

'Tis not so very long

Since other voices blended

With the carol and the song!

If we could but hear them singing,

As they are singing now,

If we could but see the radiance,

Of the crown on each dear brow,

There would be no sigh to smother,

No hidden tear to flow,

As we listen in the starlight,

To the "bells across the snow."

“0 Christmas, merry Christmas,

This never more can be;

We cannot bring again the days

Of our unshadowed glee,

But Christmas, happy Christmas,

Sweet herald of good will,

With holy songs of glory

Brings holy gladness still.

For peace and hope may brighten,

And patient love may glow,

As we listen in the starlight,

To the"bells across the snow.”

━Frances Ridley Havergal

十二月二十四日

天将晚，以撒出来在田间默想。”（创廿四：63）

我们若有更多单独的时间，就必有更多属灵的长进；我们若少尝试，多退修，就必有更大工作的果效。我们常以为不做事是懒惰、是羞耻，所以我们顶喜欢跑来跑去瞎忙。其实，默想的时候，与神谈话的时间，举目望天的时间，是对我们最有益的时间。这种时间从不会“太多”的。

或说：默想是心灵的休息，让我们常常给心灵以休息的机会，那时任何有形的工作都要暂停止，只是静静地躺下，仰望着星宿，好象基甸的羊群那样，在神面前展开身体，接受天降的甘露，我们亦要有间歇的时间，不工作，不计算，躺在大自然的怀抱里，好好的安息。

这种时间绝对不是虚耗。渔夫坐下补网，你能不能说他虚耗时间呢？割草者坐下磨刀，你能不能说他虚耗时间呢？我们应该常学以撒的样，从热闷的生活中出来，到田间去默想。我们所过的是热闹的生活、喧噪的生活、忙录的生活，能常与大自然接触的话，的确是一件非常痛快的事情。田间散步，海边闲游，能使我们心中充满新的喜乐和盼望。━选

“昨天我失去了那些使我苦恼的忧虑和不安，……其时，我和神同在田野之间”。

圣诞前夕之歌

静听雪地钟声

啊,圣诞,快乐圣诞,

果然再度来临,

带着它的记念和祝福,

带着它的苦痛和欢欣!

歌声中有低沉的音节,

亮光里也有一些暗冥,

今夜,有表示神圣的花园,

交织着一枝枝松柏青青。

只是笑声那末低微,

打不破寂然的沉静,

我们在星光下听聆,

雪地里传来的钟声。

啊,圣诞,快乐圣诞,

离开现在并不太久,

其时还有别的声息,

于颂赞中交响而奏!

只要能听到他们的歌唱,

正像此刻的音节铿锵,

只要能看到他们的额上,

闪耀着冠冕的光芒,

就不会有窒息的哀叹,

也不会有眼泪的暗洒,

我们在星光下听聆,

雪地里传来的钟声。

啊,圣诞,快乐圣诞,

佳节不常,良辰不再；

已经过去的欢愉日子,

我们无法唤它重复回来,

但一年一度的快乐圣诞,

预告着甜美的福音,

随着光荣的圣歌,

依旧带来了天上的欢欣。

坚贞的爱会洋溢人间,

和平与希望会放出光明,

我们在星光下听聆,

雪地里传来的钟声。

━海弗格尔

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