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第12章 守护孩子的天使

从前,有个孩子马上就要降生了。因此,有一天他问上帝:“听说明天你就送我去人间了,可是,我又弱小又无助,在那儿怎么生活呢?”

上帝回答说:“我从众多的天使中为你挑选了一个。她会一直守候着你,并照顾你。”

但是孩子还是拿不定主意自己是否真的想去人世。“可是在天堂,我除了唱歌、欢笑,什么也不用做,而这已经足以让我感到幸福的了。”

“你的天使会每天为你唱歌,冲你微笑。你会感受到他的爱,并且会因此而感到幸福。”

孩子继续问道;“我不懂人类的语言,他们和我说话的时候,我怎么能听得懂呢?”

上帝轻轻地拍了一下孩子的头说:“你的天使会对你说最美丽,最动听的话语,那是你从没有听说过的,而且,她将耐心地、仔细地教你说话。”

“那么,如果我想与你说话,我该怎么办呢?”

上帝对这个问题有确信的答案:“你的天使会将你的双手合拢,并教你如何祈祷。”

“我听说人间有许多坏人,谁会来保护我呢。”

“哪怕是冒着生命危险,你的天使也会保护你。”

“但是,见不到你,我会感到难过的。”孩子小心翼翼地继续说道。

听到这句话,上帝冲着孩子笑了。“尽管我会一直陪伴在你身旁,你的天使仍会不断地向你提到我,教会你如何重返天堂。”

那一刻,天堂一片寂静,人世间的声音可以被清晰地听得到。孩子知道自己就要上路了。他又轻声地问了上帝一个问题:“喔,上帝,现在我马上就要出发了,请告诉我,我的天使叫什么名字。”

上帝把手轻轻地放在孩子的肩上,回答道:“你的天使的名字非常好记,你就简单地称她为——妈妈。”

Unconditional Love

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco.

“Mom and Dad, I‘m coming home, but I’ve a favor to ask. I have a friend I‘d like to bring home with me.”

“Sure,” they replied, “we’d love to meet him.”

“There’s something you should know” the son continued, “he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mine and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us.”

“I‘m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live.”

“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.”

“Son,” said the father, “you don’t know what you‘re asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He‘ll find a way to live on his own.”

At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him. A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know, their son had only one arm and one leg.

The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we don‘t like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable. We would rather stay away from people who aren’t as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are. Thankfully, there’s someone who won‘t treat us that way. Someone who loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into the forever family, regardless of how messed up we are.