Would her life have been different had she been pretty? Chances are it would have. And yet there were a sensitivity and a beauty to her that had nothing to do with looks. She was one to be listened to, whose words were so easy to take to heart. Her words came from a wounded but loving heart, very much like all hearts, but she had more of a need to be aware of it, to live with it and learn from it. She possessed a fine-tuned sense of beauty. Her only fear in life was the loss of a friend.

How long does it take most of us to reach that level of human growth, if we ever get there? We get so consumed and diminished, worrying about all the things that need improving, we can easily forget to cherish those things that last. Friendship, so rare and so good, just needs our care--maybe even the simple gesture of writing a little note now and then, or the dropping of some beautiful words in a basket, in the hope that such beauty will be shared and taken to heart.

The truth of her life was a desire to see beyond the surface for a glimpse of what it is that matters. She found beauty and grace and they befriended her, and showed her what is real.

美麗人生

她有著一種與外表無(wú)關(guān)的靈氣和美麗。她的話語(yǔ)輕而易舉地征服了人心，她正是我們要聆聽(tīng)的聲音。

很多人都說(shuō)人生的真諦是個(gè)未知的概念。言詞的費(fèi)力詮釋、藝術(shù)的著力表現(xiàn)還有人類那似乎永無(wú)休止的紛繁思考，三者都苦苦追尋人生的真諦。希望走近以至完全把握存在的真意可以令人十分狂熱。有時(shí)候，有些人以自己篤信的真理為志趣，追尋真理甚于保全生命，于是就有舍生取義之舉。然而，也有另外的一種人生，他們?cè)趯で笳嬷B的過(guò)程中灌溉生命。

過(guò)去，我常常在教堂的心意籃里面發(fā)現(xiàn)一些優(yōu)美的小短文，有些是關(guān)于我的布道，有些是作者日常讀《圣經(jīng)》的感想。寫這些短文的人不僅對(duì)我的一些觀點(diǎn)加以反思，同時(shí)還會(huì)引用一些他/她曾經(jīng)讀過(guò)的，令他/她難忘又喜愛(ài)的詩(shī)人或者神秘主義者的話。我給這些短文迷住了。我看到了一個(gè)執(zhí)著于追尋真與美的人。其珍而重之的字句，優(yōu)美動(dòng)人。我還感覺(jué)到好像那些字句也樂(lè)于讓我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，它們是那么毫無(wú)保留地，慷慨地為這無(wú)名氏作者借用，而現(xiàn)在輪到這位無(wú)名氏來(lái)學(xué)習(xí)與人分享這些美文的奧秘。分享令美愈加閃耀生輝，在這個(gè)意義上說(shuō)，其實(shí)世上唯一的真理是分毫不費(fèi)的。

過(guò)了很久我才見(jiàn)到這些短文的作者。

一個(gè)星期天早上，我被告知有人正在辦公室等我。幫我應(yīng)門的年輕人說(shuō)是個(gè)女人，說(shuō)留言是她放的?？匆?jiàn)她的時(shí)候我大吃一驚，因?yàn)槲荫R上就認(rèn)出她是我的教區(qū)信徒，只是我一直不知道那些短文是她寫的。她坐在辦公室的一張椅子上，兩手相扣擱在大腿上，低垂著頭。在抬頭看我的時(shí)候，她微笑起來(lái)卻十分費(fèi)勁。那是一張破了相的臉，外科手術(shù)使她的臉皮繃得緊緊的，笑對(duì)她來(lái)說(shuō)也是很困難的。為了去除臉上礙眼的肉瘤她接受了手術(shù)治療，這令她吃盡苦頭。

那個(gè)星期天早上我們聊了一會(huì)兒，并決定那個(gè)星期再找個(gè)時(shí)間一起吃頓午飯。

后來(lái)我們不止吃了一頓午飯，而是好幾頓。每次一起吃飯的時(shí)候她都戴著帽子。我想可能是她接受的某種治療使她掉了不少頭發(fā)。我們分享了各自生活中的點(diǎn)點(diǎn)滴滴。我跟她講我讀書和成長(zhǎng)的故事。她告訴我她在一家保險(xiǎn)公司里已經(jīng)工作多年了。她從來(lái)沒(méi)有提過(guò)自己的家庭，我也沒(méi)有問(wèn)。

我們還談到大家都讀過(guò)的作家作品，不難發(fā)現(xiàn)她非常喜歡看書