「你們坐在這裡，等我到那邊去禱告。」－馬太福音26:36
在客西馬尼園，八位門徒被留在園外枯等。耶穌自己上前禱告，並帶著彼得、雅各，和約翰進到園中儆醒守候，其他人則在後等待。
那些被拒於外的門徒們必定相互唧咕議論，埋怨耶穌竟僅讓他們留於園中，卻不讓他們參與園內花草的栽培。那時正是危及存亡的關頭，是風雨交加的片刻，而主竟不許他們作點什麼。
我們也常碰到這種令人沮喪的處境。明明不知道有多少大好服事的機會，你我卻只得眼睜睜地，看著弟兄姊妹們前仆後繼上前參與，自己卻只能躺在後方。
或許，是因為疾病纏身、身無分文、流言誹謗；無論如何，我們不受歡迎，只能暗自心傷。我們真不明白，自己為何被排拒在基督徒的生活之外，明明就置身園中，卻與正事無分無關。
英文的動詞中有三種語態：主動態、被動態，和不及物語態。為基督而「活」的這個「活」也有三種語態：
- 有「主動」、儆醒，奔上前頭殺敵征討直至黎明來到的人；
- 有「被動」、儆醒，負責在戰事的前後方互通有無；
- 也有一些「不及物」的人，既不上到前線，又不袖手觀戰，只能躺臥在地上。
你若正經歷這不及物的環境，請記得，你並非被撇在一旁，而是基督要你「坐在這裡」的。你在園中的地點，同樣也是分別為聖的，且有這地點專屬的名稱；它不叫「纏鬥處」或「守望處」，它的名字是「等候處」。
有些人來到地上，不是為了功成名就，也不是為了肩負偉業，他們的使命只是單純的活著，作個「不及物動詞」，作個園中不起眼的小花。
他們沒有被拿來裝飾花環，餐桌上也見不到他們的風姿，彼得、雅各，和約翰也不對他們正眼看待；但他們卻為耶穌帶來歡樂，他們的一縷芳香就足以使主舒爽快慰了。
主只要看見他們在谷中繁茂生長，祂就得已心滿意足。若你就是這朵小花，你就快別抱怨了吧！
－選
"Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder" (Matt. 26:36).It is a hard thing to be kept in the background at a time of crisis. In the Garden of Gethsemane eight of the eleven disciples were left to do nothing. Jesus went to the front to pray; Peter, James and John went to the middle to watch; the rest sat down in the rear to wait. Methinks that party in the rear must have murmured. They were in the garden, but that was all; they had no share in the cultivation of its flowers. It was a time of crisis, a time of storm and stress; and yet they were not suffered to work.
You and I have often felt that experience, that disappointment. There has arisen, mayhap a great opportunity for Christian service. Some are sent to the front; some are sent to the middle. But we are made to lie down in the rear. Perhaps sickness has come; perhaps poverty has come; perhaps obloquy has come; in any case we are hindered and we feel sore. We do not see why we should be excluded from a part in the Christian life. It seems like an unjust thing that, seeing we have been allowed to enter the garden, no path should be assigned to us there.
Be still, my soul, it is not as thou deemest! Thou art not excluded from a part of the Christian life. Thinkest thou that the garden of the Lord has only a place for those who walk and for those who stand! Nay, it has a spot consecrated to those who are compelled to sit. There are three voices in a verb--active, passive and neuter. So, too, there are three voices in Christ's verb "to live." There are the active, watching souls, who go to the front, and struggle till the breaking of the day. There are the passive, watching souls, who stand in the middle, and report to others the progress of the fight. But there are also the neuter souls--those who can neither fight, nor be spectators of the fight, but have simply to lie down.
When that experience comes to thee, remember, thou are not shunted. Remember it is Christ that says, "Sit ye here." Thy spot in the garden has also been consecrated. It has a special name. It is not "the place of wrestling," nor "the place of watching," but "the place of waiting." There are lives that come into this world neither to do great work nor to bear great burdens, but simply to be; they are the neuter verbs. They are the flowers of the garden which have had no active mission. They have wreathed no chaplet; they have graced no table; they have escaped the eye of Peter and James and John. But they have gladdened the sight of Jesus. By their mere perfume, by their mere beauty, they have brought Him joy; by the very preservation of their loveliness in the valley they have lifted the Master's heart. Thou needst not murmur shouldst thou be one of these flowers! --Selected
