《剪下一方暖和--喻道小故事》

禱告比讚美容易 It is easier to pray than to praise

It is easier to pray than to praise. In times of great peril , national crises, or personal danger, people will pray for help.

It was natural for George Washington to drop to his knees at Valley Forge and ask God for strength and courage. Abraham Lincoln often confessed that he spent much time in prayer because the responsibilities and challenges of his office were enormous .

A soldier who survived the World War II was asked whether he prayed during the ordeal . He replied, “I guess everybody prayed there.“ While Charles Lindbergh was making his historic flight across the Atlantic, the fans at Yankee Stadium were asked to stand for two minutes to pray for his success. No one thought it strange.

It is at times more difficult to remember to praise and thank God. Ten lepers met Jesus one day. They were in need of help. It was easy for them to pray, “Have mercy upon us.” But only one remembered to return to render praise and thank to Jesus.

We can give praises and thanks for many blessings, the list below is only some of God’s rich blessings to us. You can make it from A to Z.

A for art藝術
B for beauty美
C for children孩子
D for doctors醫生
E for education教育
F for friends朋友
G for God神
H for home家
I for immortality不朽
J for Jesus耶穌
K for knowledge知識
L for laughter歡笑
M for music音樂
N for nature自然
O for opportunity機會
P for peace和平
Q for questions疑問
R for romance羅曼史
S for sunsets日落
T for tomorrow明天
U for unity合一
V for victories勝利
W for work工作
X for all the X-tra things we forgot to mention所有忘記提的額外之事
Y for you你
Z for zest熱心

..

字彙
peril危險
enormous巨大的
ordeal考驗
leper痲瘋病人

禱告比讚美容易。在極危難之時，不論是國家面臨災難，個人遭遇危險，人都會禱告尋求幫助。

喬治華盛頓在Valley Forge戰場跪下求神賜力量勇氣，這是很自然的事。亞伯拉罕林肯常常承認花很多時間禱告，因為他職務的責任和挑戰非常巨大。

一個從二次大戰生還的士兵被問到，是否在考驗中禱告，他回答，「我想那裏每個人都禱告。」查理林白將橫跨大西洋作歷史性飛航時，有人要求洋基運動場上的球迷起立為此行成功禱告兩分鐘，沒人覺得奇怪而不禱告。

然而有時候，要記得讚美感謝神反而比較困難。有一天，十個長大痲瘋的人遇見耶穌，因為急需幫助，他們很容易就禱告說，「可憐我們吧。」但事後只有一個人記得回去讚美感謝耶穌。

我們可以為受到的許多祝福而讚美感謝，以下只是神豐富祝福的一小部分，你可以從頭到尾列張清單算一算。

思考與應用

1. 你通常在什麼情況下會禱告？你的祈求和讚美的比率差不多嗎？

2. 歲末年終，我們可以從A到Z 想出26件和上面不同，而值得感謝的事嗎？（順便測試英文程度）

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