When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Gibbs. He didn't look like any doctor I'd ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard. I remember him as someone who was a lot nicer than circumstances warranted.
When Dr. Gibbs wasn't saving lives, he was planting trees. His house sat on ten acres, and his life's goal was to make it a forest.
The good doctor had some interesting theories concerning plant husbandry. He came from the “No pain, no gain school of horticulture. He never watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled them, and that if you water them, each successive tree generation will grow weaker and weaker. So you have to make things rough for them and weed out the weenie trees early on.
He talked about how watering trees made for shallow roots, and how trees that weren't watered had to grow deep roots in search of moisture. I took him to mean that deep roots were to be treasured.
So he never watered his trees. He'd plant an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he'd beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. Smack! Slap! Pow! I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree's attention.
Dr. Gibbs went to glory a couple of years after I left home. Every now and again, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I'd watched him plant some twenty-five years ago. They're granite strong now. Big and robust. Those trees wake up in the morning and beat their chests and drink their coffee black.
I planted a couple of trees a few years back. Carried water to them for a solid summer. Sprayed them. Prayed over them. The whole nine yards. Two years of coddling has resulted in trees that expect to be waited on hand and foot. Whenever a cold wind blows in, they tremble and chatter their branches. Sissy trees.
Funny things about those trees of Dr. Gibbs'. Adversity and deprivation seemed to benefit them in ways comfort and ease never could.
Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I stand over them and watch their little bodies, the rising and falling of life within. I often pray for them. Mostly I pray that their lives will be easy. But lately I've been thinking that it's time to change my prayer.
This change has to do with the inevitability of cold winds that hit us at the core. I know my children are going to encounter hardship, and I'm praying they won't be naive. There's always a cold wind blowing somewhere.
So I'm changing my prayer. Because life is tough, whether we want it to be or not. Too many times we pray for ease, but that's a prayer seldom met. What we need to do is pray for roots that reach deep into the Eternal, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won't be swept asunder.
(编辑:何佩琦)
外媒趣味盘点:你见过哪些最离谱的请假理由
美文赏析:冒险的女高音
关于种族尊严:请还我们一个公道
那些让人极其懊恼的餐厅新做法
“丰满”的现实压迫出骨感的模特?
美文赏析:那个老师说了假话
七月的蝴蝶,一生的祝福
韦伯和那个瓶子的故事
所谓的慢车道生活,你知道是什么样的吗?
马路堵堵堵的五大原因,你知道是什么吗?
世界品牌zara创始人的传奇一生
美国国会山上的实习生们
前路祸福难知,何不惜取眼前时
幽默的人为别人带来开心,自己真的也开心吗?
歪果仁的挑战记,美国女孩的中餐体验
世界上5个迎接新年的“怪”习俗
大长腿很好,但是小短腿儿也会有春天
开学季迎新三步曲盘点
入乡随俗:独特而甜蜜
莎士比亚的这15件事,你肯定不知道
在家办公就毫无烦恼吗?
在家办公所受到的误会,你中招了吗?
纸质信:难以舍弃的尺素之情
动物们的各种行为动作都只是为了玩耍?
厨渣的下厨初体验
这些外国礼仪,你不可不知
没有旅行的夏天,你怎么过?
时间,不止需要我们珍惜,更值得我们敬畏
“希腊式生活”席卷美国校园
美国女孩在中国:奇妙的砍价之旅
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |