付出與收獲

WE GIVE AND WE RECEIVE

This morning, as I saw a beautiful garden filled with flowers greeting a new shining sun, I started thinking about the services that we all need and that we all offer to each other. Every single thing in this universe is able to produce something for others. We all depend on one another. We all give and we all receive.

I thought how those flowers serve bees and other insects by giving them pollen, and with this little act, the little bees can go and produce their honey, which is then served in our breakfast on hot cakes, and is found in so many other dishes! When the bees fly to other places, they take pollen which then fertilizes other flowers and allows them to grow.

I thought about the service we give when we help other people by doing our jobs with joy. As a manager, as a milkman, as a doctor, as an office clerk, as a lawyer, as a painter, as a writer, as a housewife, as a cook, whatever it is that we do, there’s implicit service that uplifts others with positive results. We can get paid for what we do, but someone, somehow, depends on us. Just think about how many souls are involved when we travel on a plane to get to our destination safely.

Taking it further, just think about your parents and how you serve them just by loving them. When we love, we are serving. We are feeding others feelings; we are empowering and supporting them. We all need love. We all feel good with a smile. What a service!

What kind of service are we giving? Let it be as beautiful as a flower greeting a new shining sun!

【日積月累】

◇pollen n. 花粉

◇fertilize v. 施肥；使受精

◇implicit adj. 暗示的，內含的

◇uplift v. 鼓舞，使振奮

◇empower v. 給(某人)……力量

【參考譯文】

付出與收獲

今天早上，當我看到一個長滿鮮花的美麗花園迎接著新的一輪朝陽時，我開始想我們需要的那些服務以及我們提供給彼此的服務。在這個世界里每一件事物都能為其他事物效勞。我們互相依靠。我們全都在付出，同時也在收獲。

我想到了鮮花是如何服務蜜蜂和其他昆蟲的，它們提供自己的花粉，通過這一小小的舉動，小蜜蜂就可以飛回去生產出蜂蜜——蜂蜜再出現在我們早餐熱烘烘的蛋糕里，以及其他各種菜肴里。蜜蜂飛到其他地方，它們身上帶著花粉就給其他鮮花受了精，使它們得以繼續生長。

我想到了當我們開心地做好自己的工作的時候，同時我們也就為別人提供了服務。經理、送牛奶的人、辦公室文員、醫生、律師、畫家、作家、家庭主婦、廚師，不管我們從事的是什么工作么，其中都含有為人服務的成分，都能鼓舞人心，帶來積極的效果。盡管我們的工作是有報酬的，但是有些人在某個程度上依賴著我們。就想想我們要起坐飛機安全地到達目的地，這其中會涉及多少人在提供服務。

再深入一點，想想你的父母，想想你是如何通過愛他們來為他們服務的。當我們愛著別人時，我們就是在做服務。我們在滿足他們的情感需求，我們在鼓舞和支持他們。我們所有人都需要愛。每個人都喜歡別人笑臉相迎。微笑也是一種不可或缺的服務啊！

我們要給人一種什么樣的服務呢？就讓它像一株迎接朝陽的花朵般美麗吧。

【人生啟迪】

幫助他人的方式有很多種，最平常的就是做好你份內的事。如果你是銀行出納，你準確快速地辦理好客戶的業務，就幫了他們一個大忙。所以不管我們的工作是什么，我們都應該用心做好，因為我們的付出給別人帶去了快樂。