昨天是我第一次自己做主学老师， 以前做过助理， 帮别的姐妹管理课堂。 这个月是我第一次自己承担一个月的儿童主日学课程，主题是品格教育之一：“主动”。
学生是 7 位小学生， 6 至 11 岁不等， 都在当地讲法语的小学上学。 我和他们有的熟识， 有的不认识。
为什么做这件事， 是教会同工姐妹的鼓励， 也是学习服侍神， 服侍人。 我能为教会提供什么服务， 虽然我们都不是完全人， 但是上帝使用每个人， 我的手要被神使用， 就要开动脑筋想想我能为教会的兄弟姐妹做什么。 唱诗班，翻译讲道，平时个别的咨询辅导我都作过。 这次在一位同工姐妹鼓励下来试试做一个月的主日学老师。 看看我和孩子们能不能交心，把品格的原则教给他们。
我们有一本教材， 包括了品格建立方面的不同主题， 比如：诚实，善良，温柔，顺服，忍耐，尽责， 主动，。。。。。等等。 也许上帝为了训练我， 在我做的时候恰好是这个我自己也想学习，也应该改善的品格：主动。
我读了教材， 它讲了冻原天鹅 V 字形列队飞行的原理。 总有一只天鹅打头，迎风带队飞行， 让后面在她两侧的天鹅可以借她的双翅煽动的气流，飞得省力。而左右两只天鹅挥动翅膀， 又可以给她俩侧后方的两只天鹅创造省力的机会，依次类推。 最后结果是， 原来单独飞行一天可飞 575 公里的天鹅， V 字列队飞行以后， 全队每天可飞行的距离为 1288 公里。 大大缩短了他们从南到北迁徙的时间，使他们有充裕时间在北方的湖边巢产卵，养育小天鹅， 待小天鹅翅膀长硬后， 冬天到来前再一同飞往气候适合的南方。
自然的环境给冻原天鹅带来了严峻挑战，他们不得不年年迁徙， 可也锻炼了他们的主动精神，磨练了他们的耐力， 和彼此合作的习惯。 打头飞的天鹅最辛苦， 耗费能量最多， 当她筋疲力尽的时候，后面自然会有别的天鹅主动出来替换她， 这样彼此替换， 直到整个群体飞到目的地。
读了这个故事很感动。 我们都说动物没有思想， 可是天鹅这样有组织的飞行安排是怎么形成的呢，仅仅是习惯吗， 我还没有找到答案， 但我很敬佩天鹅们勇敢主动为大家付出的精神。
另外讲了一个美国的教授的故事，他姓卡佛， 是个黑人， 当他看到美国农民的农业技术很差，农民生活很苦，他自己便在任职的学校带领学生搞实验田，种不同种类的作物。 然后他走出校园，以一辆马车为工具把他发明的耕种方法和食品加工保存的技术亲手教给附近的农民。他不是一个单单坐在课堂里的教授， 他的课堂在生活中， 在农民的田地中间。我上网搜索了这位教授的经历，也很有意思， 他的事业是“可持续发展农业”， 今天对于我们善用资源管理供应百姓的生活也仍然还有可观的意义。
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.
动物世界和人的世界都有一些主动者， 由于他们的存在而大大改变了群体的生活状态。 主动的品格多么值得褒扬！
这个课程难道只有孩子们该学习吗。我这个大人有多少时候也不过是过一天算一天， 很少去想今天我干的事究竟对人有没有帮助， 都帮助了谁，从而使我的一天有意义呢。很多事情深入地自问， 就会觉得惭愧的时候居多。
圣经说“施比受有福”， 实在是这样， 当我为了教育孩子准备内容的时候， 首先我自己先受了教育。我先有了心灵的收获，教会服事的意义可能正在于此吧。
我领孩子们 复习了“主动”这个原则包含的内容， 并让他们在自己的主日学本子上写一遍，好记得住：
主动
看到事情
不待别人开口
就着手去做
我不用人提醒就做对的事
我今天能做的事不拖到明天
我要为团队的成功效力
我要成为答案而不是问题的一部分
我要设法帮助别人
最后我和他们用问答的方式提问他们在家里，在学校， 在教会都有什么事情他们可以主动， 他们回答出很多可以主动做的事情，包括给妈妈道一杯水这样的小事。 孩子们观察力很强！我灵机一动 留了个作业， 下次上课请每个人向全班报告你这一周主动做了哪些事情。
最后，一位小朋友问， 老师， 今天有棒棒糖吗， 原来以前老师有惯例， 上课结束时奖励他们棒棒糖吃。 我很久不做小孩子的妈妈了， 还真没想到这一点。 怎么办呢， 许诺下次买， 但我要“主动”了解孩子们喜欢吃什么， 问了每一个孩子。 结果，孩子们七嘴八舌给我描绘了不同的东西， 什么“蛋糖， 长得像鸡蛋，很多层白白的东西， 里面包着一个口香糖 " , " 一种软糖，扁扁的，中间是一个鸡蛋黄样的一小块”， “可乐棒棒糖”，。。。这些糖都有个我记不住的法文名字。 今天孩子生活选择实在太多了！ 我只好问龙龙， 哪里有卖的， 龙龙说就在 Tabac 呀。原来他们都知道！一下课， 我干脆带着他们去教会街角的一个 Tabac ， 让他们自己挑，我也认识认识他们需要的究竟是什么糖果， 下次好预备。
第一次主日学就在这么热热闹闹的气氛中结束， 不能算漂亮。 但我起码在慢慢了解他们的情况和 需要。 下次会根据情况调整我的讲课。
下周我要讲圣经中与主动有关的故事， 并且要他们扮演角色演出来。 然后问他们一串儿问题，让他们多想想故事的深意。 我也从中更多认识圣经。
现在我想到的故事有， 耶稣主动给门徒洗脚的故事。 撒该主动追求认识耶稣，归还欠债的故事， 约瑟主动饶恕多年前合谋陷害把他卖到异乡的哥哥们， 并在哥哥们遇饥荒时不计前嫌主动供养他们的故事。。。
最重要是这个任务让我自己重新细读这些故事，让我自己先学到真理来提高自己。上帝通过我的服事先来塑造我，教小孩子实在是对我的生命有意义。
(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