「我算定今時的苦楚，不配與將來要顯於我們的榮耀相比。」－羅馬書 8:18
我曾收藏了一個帝蛾的繭將近一年之久。
它的結構相當的特殊：在一頭是一條開口的細管，在另一頭則是一個球形的囊。帝蛾出繭時，必須從細長的管子爬過，才能到空中飛翔。看到了這樣的結構，每個人都會感到稀奇，要費多大的氣力和困難，肥大的帝蛾才能爬過細小的管子？人們猜想，當帝蛾掙扎出蛹時，強大的壓力迫使牠身上的體液流到了翅膀，於是牠才能振翅飛翔。
有一天，我恰巧看見了囚禁已久的蟲兒正要破繭而出。整個早晨，我守在旁邊看著牠奮力掙扎的過程。然而，當我看見不論牠如何奮鬥，依然不能前進絲毫時，我的忍耐終於用完了。
我自以為比造物主更有智慧和憐憫，於是我用小剪刀將開口的絲剪開一點，讓帝蛾能更容易出來。不出我所料，果然小蛾立刻就爬出了細管；但是，看哪！牠的身體卻異常的臃腫，翅膀也極度的萎縮。我在牠身邊，耐心的等著牠伸出牠的翅膀，顯露牠精巧美妙的紋路。豈知我竟是徒勞無功。我錯誤的憐憫，竟成了牠致命的傷害。發育不良的帝蛾，非但無法張開彩虹般的羽翼在空中翱翔，展現牠美妙的色彩，反而在艱苦的爬行幾步後，悄悄的死去。
這個經驗讓我一再又一再的反覆思索。當我用我同情的眼光看見困苦的人們在環境中掙扎落魄，我常一廂情願地想提早結束他們苦難，使他們早日得到抒解。
然而我的眼光是何等的短淺！我怎麼能知道這些苦楚和呻吟是可以免去的呢？真正目光深遠且完全的愛是為著所愛之人的成全，因此不能免去這些今生短暫輕微的苦楚。
天父的愛是真實而沒有虛假的。因著愛，祂責備管教，為要使祂的兒女有分於祂的聖別。為了這個榮耀的目的，祂不能顧念他們的淚水。
我們的長兄因著苦難得了成全；照樣，神的眾兒女也必須藉著苦難才能學得順從，也藉著苦難，神才能帶領他們進入榮耀。－選
"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:18).I kept for nearly a year the flask-shaped cocoon of an emperor moth. It is very peculiar in its construction. A narrow opening is left in the neck of the flask, through which the perfect insect forces its way, so that a forsaken cocoon is as entire as one still tenanted, no rupture of the interlacing fibers having taken place. The great disproportion between the means of egress and the size of the imprisoned insect makes one wonder how the exit is ever accomplished at all--and it never is without great labor and difficulty. It is supposed that the pressure to which the moth's body is subjected in passing through such a narrow opening is a provision of nature for forcing the juices into the vessels of the wings, these being less developed at the period of emerging from the chrysalis than they are in other insects.
I happened to witness the first efforts of my prisoned moth to escape from its long confinement. During a whole forenoon, from time to time, I watched it patiently striving and struggling to get out. It never seemed able to get beyond a certain point, and at last my patience was exhausted. Very probably the confining fibers were drier and less elastic than if the cocoon had been left all winter on its native heather, as nature meant it to be. At all events I thought I was wiser and more compassionate than its Maker, and I resolved to give it a helping hand. With the point of my scissors I snipped the confining threads to make the exit just a very little easier, and lo! immediately, and with perfect case, out crawled my moth dragging a huge swollen body and little shrivelled wings. In vain I watched to see that marvelous process of expansion in which these silently and swiftly develop before one's eyes; and as I traced the exquisite spots and markings of divers colors which were all there in miniature, I longed to see these assume their due proportions and the creature to appear in all its perfect beauty, as it is, in truth, one of the loveliest of its kind. But I looked in vain. My false tenderness had proved its ruin. It never was anything but a stunted abortion, crawling painfully through that brief life which it should have spent flying through the air on rainbow wings. I have thought of it often, often, when watching with pitiful eyes those who were struggling with sorrow, suffering, and distress; and I would fain cut short the discipline and give deliverance. Short-sighted man! How know I that one of these pangs or groans could be spared? The far-sighted, perfect love that seeks the perfection of its object does not weakly shrink from present, transient suffering. Our Father's love is too true to be weak. Because He loves His children, He chastises them that they may be partakers of His holiness. With this glorious end in view, He spares not for their crying. Made perfect through sufferings, as the Elder Brother was, the sons of God are trained up to obedience and brought to glory through much tribulation. --Tract.
