《剪下一方暖和--喻道小故事》

非本身之美 Beauty Not Out of You

Once there was a briar growing in the ditch. A man came with a spade , and as he dug around it, the briar said, "What is he going to do with me? Doesn't he see that I am worthless?" In spite of that, the gardener dug up the briar and planted it in his garden among the finest flowers. Again the briar thought, "What a mistake to plant a good-for-nothing briar among such beautiful flowers." But the man, having planted the briar, went away, never heeding the words. After some time he returned with a sharp knife, made a small slit in the briar, and grafted onto it a flower. In due time on that old briar bush began to bloom a great number of fragrant, beautiful flowers. Then the gardener said to the briar bush: "Your present beauty is not due to what came out of you, but what I put into you."

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字彙
briar 荊棘
spade 鏟子
heed 留心
graft 接枝

從前有棵荊棘長在溝裡，有人拿了鏟子在周圍挖掘，荊棘說，「他打算拿我怎麼樣啊？他看不出我不值錢嗎？」儘管如此，園丁還是把荊棘挖了起來，種在他的花園裡，和最好的花在一起。荊棘又想了，「在這麼漂亮的花中間種上沒用的荊棘可是個天大的錯誤。」這人種了荊棘就走了，對這些話毫不在意。過了一陣子，他帶著一把利刀回來，在荊棘上畫了一道小口，把一朵花接枝上去。到了時候，原來的荊棘叢開始長出一大片香氣撲鼻的美麗花朵。園丁這時候對荊棘叢說：「你現在的美，不是從你本身出來的，是我放進去的。」

思考與應用
1. 荊棘說的話讓我們想到哪一種人？自卑？自大？還是兩種都有的？
2. 想想有誰曾經把美的特質接枝到你生命裡面？

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