菜籽部落

             Footprints      by Margaret Fishback Powers

One night a man had a dream.

He dreamt he was walking with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes of his life.

For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonged to him, and the other to the Lord.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints.

He also noticed that it had happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life. This really bothered the man and he questioned the Lord about it.

“Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints.

I don’t understand why, when I needed you most, you would leave me.”

The Lord replied, “My precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

有一個晚上，一個人作了一個夢。

他夢見他和上帝在沙灘上散步。天空中閃過他人生的每一幕場景。

每一個場景，他都看到了沙灘有兩對腳印：一對是他自己的，一對是上帝的。

當人生的最後一幕在他的面前閃過時，他回首沙灘上的腳印。他注意到，在他人生的旅程中，好幾次沙灘上只有一對。

他同時注意到，這總是發生在他生命處於最低潮，最悲傷痛苦的時候。這件事讓他十分困擾，於是他問上帝：

「主啊，祢說一旦我決定追隨祢，祢將永遠與我同行。但我注意到在我人生中最困難的時候，沙灘上只有一對腳印。」

「我不明白為甚麼在我最需要祢的時候，祢卻離我而去。」

上帝回答說：

「我的兒子，我親愛的孩子，我愛你，絕對不會離開你。在你人生遭受試煉與苦難的時候，也就是你所看到的只有一對腳印的那些時候，其實正是我將你抱著你走的時候。」

                                98.7.12拍攝於金門水頭海尾沙灘