A Life Note: 關鍵時刻，龍吐珠的花語？

#2020-1215

Jean suggests that I start to prepare my sermon for December 27 as soon as possible. I think she is right, because as my mother's doctor said, there will probably be something critical happening in the next few days. Then I'll be too busy (and sad!) to think and write what I'm going to preach.

By something critical I mean the coming of the very last moment before which my brothers and sisters and I (as well as our family) can actually touch our Mama (that is, their grandma or great-grandma) with hands!

The doctor and nurses told us that our mother is leaving soon. They say the "time" is limited, or short, when we can stay together with Mama and express our love to her.

The time is limited, that's true, but it seems too hard for me to start my sermon preparation right away. It's difficult for me to concentrate on studying, pondering on, and organizing the spiritual materials that I've collected for composing a sermon for the first Sunday after Christmas. What I can do, or would rather do, is to enjoy the beauty of the flowers (Clerodendrum x speciosum) which I saw a couple days ago, and to appreciate the Flower Language of that kind of flower: "Precious and Pure and Heart-warming."

圖片為幾天前 (12/11) 拍攝於好友張校長家門口斜對面鄰居的「紅花龍吐珠」。

一開始，我並不確定是不是「龍吐珠」，只覺得它模樣很眼熟，而顏色卻相當鮮豔、奇特。返家後上網查閱，方知 "她" 有個美麗的名字：紅花龍吐珠。而且，龍吐珠的花語是：「珍貴純潔、內心熱誠。」

12/11 那天，先後二度前往醫院，探視年邁生病的母親，內心感觸甚多。剛好好友正行來電相約，他的家距離醫院不遠，我們也很久沒見面了，當然見面聊天..........彼此都極其喜悅。關鍵時刻，我更要記得龍吐珠的花語：珍貴純潔、內心熱誠。