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.
不求回报地付出是一种幸福
国内英语资讯:Chinese prosecutors ordered to target web-borne financial crime
Donkey's years 很长时间
史上最傻瓜减肥法——睡美人减肥法
无人机可沿GPS定位路线帮你遛狗
美推出无牌电商平台:极简风20元无牌日用品,你会买单吗?
求职面试的时候,千万别说这11句话
妻子拒绝与丈夫同房等同虐待?
美国海军下令暂停行动两天
这些肢体语言可辨别男友忠诚度 教你迅速鉴定渣男
体坛英语资讯:Kenya Stars coach recalls striker to squad to face Mozambique
女生们以为这些行为很可爱,其实却是男友最讨厌的
美推出无牌电商平台:极简风20元无牌日用品,你会买单吗?
在咖啡馆里点咖啡的必备词汇
无人机可沿GPS定位路线帮你遛狗
Thanks To the Setback 感谢挫折
Cutting calories in popular foods to fight obesity 削减受欢迎食物中的卡路里含量以对抗肥胖
美国首次对人类胚胎进行基因编辑,或能消除家族遗传病
A happy place to work 工作学习中幽默的“功效”
你知道鱼水之欢、跑步以及做其他活动的最佳时间吗?
体坛英语资讯:Britain win FEI European eventing champion, Germanys Klimke takes individual title
美国首次对人类胚胎进行基因编辑,或能消除家族遗传病
国内英语资讯:China, Singapore agree to boost legislature cooperation
国际英语资讯:Brazils Supreme Court opens graft case into former president Collor de Mello
史上最傻瓜减肥法——睡美人减肥法
国际英语资讯:Mexican automotive sector asks for NAFTA rules of origin to be unchanged
你知道鱼水之欢、跑步以及做其他活动的最佳时间吗?
想进苹果公司?那就找出隐藏的招聘广告!
喝热水对健康有何好处
国际英语资讯:Spanish judge decides to jail 2 of 4 surviving terror suspects
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |