昨天是我第一次自己做主學老師， 以前做過助理， 幫別的姐妹管理課堂。 這個月是我第一次自己承擔一個月的兒童主日學課程，主題是品格教育之一：“主動”。
學生是 7 位小學生， 6 至 11 歲不等， 都在當地講法語的小學上學。 我和他們有的熟識， 有的不認識。
為什麽做這件事， 是教會同工姐妹的鼓勵， 也是學習服侍神， 服侍人。 我能為教會提供什麽服務， 雖然我們都不是完全人， 但是上帝使用每個人， 我的手要被神使用， 就要開動腦筋想想我能為教會的兄弟姐妹做什麽。 唱詩班，翻譯講道，平時個別的谘詢輔導我都作過。 這次在一位同工姐妹鼓勵下來試試做一個月的主日學老師。 看看我和孩子們能不能交心，把品格的原則教給他們。
我們有一本教材， 包括了品格建立方麵的不同主題， 比如：誠實，善良，溫柔，順服，忍耐，盡責， 主動，。。。。。等等。 也許上帝為了訓練我， 在我做的時候恰好是這個我自己也想學習，也應該改善的品格：主動。
我讀了教材， 它講了凍原天鵝 V 字形列隊飛行的原理。 總有一隻天鵝打頭，迎風帶隊飛行， 讓後麵在她兩側的天鵝可以借她的雙翅煽動的氣流，飛得省力。而左右兩隻天鵝揮動翅膀， 又可以給她倆側後方的兩隻天鵝創造省力的機會，依次類推。 最後結果是， 原來單獨飛行一天可飛 575 公裏的天鵝， V 字列隊飛行以後， 全隊每天可飛行的距離為 1288 公裏。 大大縮短了他們從南到北遷徙的時間，使他們有充裕時間在北方的湖邊巢產卵，養育小天鵝， 待小天鵝翅膀長硬後， 冬天到來前再一同飛往氣候適合的南方。
自然的環境給凍原天鵝帶來了嚴峻挑戰，他們不得不年年遷徙， 可也鍛煉了他們的主動精神，磨練了他們的耐力， 和彼此合作的習慣。 打頭飛的天鵝最辛苦， 耗費能量最多， 當她筋疲力盡的時候，後麵自然會有別的天鵝主動出來替換她， 這樣彼此替換， 直到整個群體飛到目的地。
讀了這個故事很感動。 我們都說動物沒有思想， 可是天鵝這樣有組織的飛行安排是怎麽形成的呢，僅僅是習慣嗎， 我還沒有找到答案， 但我很敬佩天鵝們勇敢主動為大家付出的精神。
另外講了一個美國的教授的故事，他姓卡佛， 是個黑人， 當他看到美國農民的農業技術很差，農民生活很苦，他自己便在任職的學校帶領學生搞實驗田，種不同種類的作物。 然後他走出校園，以一輛馬車為工具把他發明的耕種方法和食品加工保存的技術親手教給附近的農民。他不是一個單單坐在課堂裏的教授， 他的課堂在生活中， 在農民的田地中間。我上網搜索了這位教授的經曆，也很有意思， 他的事業是“可持續發展農業”， 今天對於我們善用資源管理供應百姓的生活也仍然還有可觀的意義。
George Washington Carver (January 1864[1][2] – January 5, 1943), was an American scientist, botanist, educator and inventor whose studies and teaching revolutionized agriculture in the Southern United States. The day and year of his birth are unknown; he is believed to have been born before slavery was abolished in Missouri in January 1864.[1]
Much of Carver's fame is based on his research into and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops both as a source of their own food and as a source of other products to improve their quality of life. The most popular of his 44 practical bulletins for farmers contained 105 food recipes that used peanuts.[3] He also created or disseminated[clarification needed] about 100 products made from peanuts that were useful for the house and farm, including cosmetics, dyes, paints, plastics, gasoline, and nitroglycerin.
In the Reconstruction South, an agricultural monoculture of cotton depleted the soil, and in the early 20th century the boll weevil destroyed much of the cotton crop. Carver's work on peanuts was intended to provide an alternative crop.
In addition to his work on agricultural extension education for purposes of advocacy of sustainable agriculture and appreciation of plants and nature, Carver's important accomplishments also included improvement of racial relations, mentoring children, poetry, painting, and religion. He served as an example of the importance of hard work, a positive attitude, and a good education. His humility, humanitarianism, good nature, frugality, and rejection of economic materialism also have been admired widely.
One of his most important roles was in undermining, through the fame of his achievements and many talents, the widespread stereotype of the time that the black race was intellectually inferior to the white race. In 1941, Time magazine dubbed him a "Black Leonardo", a reference to the Renaissance Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci.[4] To commemorate his life and inventions, George Washington Carver Recognition Day is celebrated on January 5, the anniversary of Carver's death.
動物世界和人的世界都有一些主動者， 由於他們的存在而大大改變了群體的生活狀態。 主動的品格多麽值得褒揚！
這個課程難道隻有孩子們該學習嗎。我這個大人有多少時候也不過是過一天算一天， 很少去想今天我幹的事究竟對人有沒有幫助， 都幫助了誰，從而使我的一天有意義呢。很多事情深入地自問， 就會覺得慚愧的時候居多。
聖經說“施比受有福”， 實在是這樣， 當我為了教育孩子準備內容的時候， 首先我自己先受了教育。我先有了心靈的收獲，教會服事的意義可能正在於此吧。
我領孩子們 複習了“主動”這個原則包含的內容， 並讓他們在自己的主日學本子上寫一遍，好記得住：
主動
看到事情
不待別人開口
就著手去做
我不用人提醒就做對的事
我今天能做的事不拖到明天
我要為團隊的成功效力
我要成為答案而不是問題的一部分
我要設法幫助別人
最後我和他們用問答的方式提問他們在家裏，在學校， 在教會都有什麽事情他們可以主動， 他們回答出很多可以主動做的事情，包括給媽媽道一杯水這樣的小事。 孩子們觀察力很強！我靈機一動 留了個作業， 下次上課請每個人向全班報告你這一周主動做了哪些事情。
最後，一位小朋友問， 老師， 今天有棒棒糖嗎， 原來以前老師有慣例， 上課結束時獎勵他們棒棒糖吃。 我很久不做小孩子的媽媽了， 還真沒想到這一點。 怎麽辦呢， 許諾下次買， 但我要“主動”了解孩子們喜歡吃什麽， 問了每一個孩子。 結果，孩子們七嘴八舌給我描繪了不同的東西， 什麽“蛋糖， 長得像雞蛋，很多層白白的東西， 裏麵包著一個口香糖 " , " 一種軟糖，扁扁的，中間是一個雞蛋黃樣的一小塊”， “可樂棒棒糖”，。。。這些糖都有個我記不住的法文名字。 今天孩子生活選擇實在太多了！ 我隻好問龍龍， 哪裏有賣的， 龍龍說就在 Tabac 呀。原來他們都知道！一下課， 我幹脆帶著他們去教會街角的一個 Tabac ， 讓他們自己挑，我也認識認識他們需要的究竟是什麽糖果， 下次好預備。
第一次主日學就在這麽熱熱鬧鬧的氣氛中結束， 不能算漂亮。 但我起碼在慢慢了解他們的情況和 需要。 下次會根據情況調整我的講課。
下周我要講聖經中與主動有關的故事， 並且要他們扮演角色演出來。 然後問他們一串兒問題，讓他們多想想故事的深意。 我也從中更多認識聖經。
現在我想到的故事有， 耶穌主動給門徒洗腳的故事。 撒該主動追求認識耶穌，歸還欠債的故事， 約瑟主動饒恕多年前合謀陷害把他賣到異鄉的哥哥們， 並在哥哥們遇饑荒時不計前嫌主動供養他們的故事。。。
最重要是這個任務讓我自己重新細讀這些故事，讓我自己先學到真理來提高自己。上帝通過我的服事先來塑造我，教小孩子實在是對我的生命有意義。
(Now called the Tundra Swan)
When autumn colors begin to show on the tundra, islands of Alaska, and northern Canada, companies of whistling swans (Olor columbianus) practice formation flying. In taking off, they run on the surface of the water for fifteen to twenty feet, kicking up a spray of water several feet high. A strong cob (male -- the female is a pen) leads each wedge, or ribbon, into the air. The dusky cygnets (young), placed between snowy adults, are sucked along by the air turbulence stirred up by the stronger bird ahead. With neck outstretched, wings beating slowly and regularly, these swans climb until they can hardly be seen from the ground. In migrating, their flying speed may reach 100 miles per hour. (It was a "whistler" at six thousand feet elevation that struck and crippled the tail of an airliner in 1962, causing the plane to crash.) High pitched cooing notes, not as harsh as the honking of geese, a musical "woo-ho, woo-woo, woo-ho" can be heard long before the birds can be seen.
Migrating whistling swans frequently visit large inland bodies of water enroute to coastal winter resorts in southern California and Mexico. Utah is in the Pacific Flyway, and the swans come to Ogden Bay Refuge and Bear River Bay Refuge in great numbers. They are arriving now (October), and remain for one to two months, resting and regaining their strength by feasting on the sago pondweed. At the peak of migration, there may be about forty thousand swans here. They are best seen in early morning (dawn), or at dusk.
Whistling swans pair off at approximately three years of age, probably for life, but do not breed until the age of five years. A bulky, untidy nest of grass, moss and roots is made close to water on an island or margin of a tundra pool. The four or five creamy white eggs, cradled in swansdown, are incubated for about forty days by both parents. The cygnets reach their adult plumage in about fifteen months. The family remains together for at least one year.
The "whistler" is the common wild swan of the west, and is identified by their completely white wings and long, outstretched necks. A small yellow spot at the base of the black bill (which has no knob), seen only at close range, and their smaller size distinguishes them from the Trumpeter swans. Their food, obtained by "tipping up", in addition to the sago pondweed, consists of wild celery, widgeon grass, and thin shelled mollusks. Floating leftovers provide food for other waterfowl.
The law protects the whistling swans in their winter homes. However, in Utah a limited number of swan permits are issued, and many other swans are killed through carelessness. But their characteristic wariness and the remoteness of their summer homes are survival factors for the species. Much more abundant than the Trumpeters, they are in no danger of extinction at present.
-- by Marie L. Atkinson