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
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
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.
相关单词：smack
smack解释：vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍
smack例句：
She gave him a smack on the face.她打了他一个嘴巴。
I gave the fly a smack with the magazine.我用杂志拍了一下苍蝇。
相关单词：granite
granite解释：adj.花岗岩，花岗石
granite例句：
They squared a block of granite.他们把一块花岗岩加工成四方形。
The granite overlies the older rocks.花岗岩躺在磨损的岩石上面。
相关单词：robust
robust解释：adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的
robust例句：
She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。
相关单词：chatter
chatter解释：vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战
chatter例句：
Her continuous chatter vexes me.她的喋喋不休使我烦透了。
I've had enough of their continual chatter.我已厌烦了他们喋喋不休的闲谈。
相关单词：deprivation
deprivation解释：n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困
deprivation例句：
Many studies make it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous.多实验都证实了睡眠被剥夺是危险的。
Missing the holiday was a great deprivation.错过假日是极大的损失。
相关单词：inevitability
inevitability解释：n.必然性
inevitability例句：
Evolutionism is normally associated with a belief in the inevitability of progress. 进化主义通常和一种相信进步不可避免的看法相联系。
It is the tide of the times, an inevitability of history. 这是时代的潮流，历史的必然。
相关单词：naive
naive解释：adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的
naive例句：
It's naive of you to believe he'll do what he says.相信他会言行一致，你未免太单纯了。
Don't be naive.The matter is not so simple.你别傻乎乎的。事情没有那么简单。
相关单词：asunder
asunder解释：adj.分离的，化为碎片
asunder例句：
The curtains had been drawn asunder.窗帘被拉向两边。
Your conscience,conviction,integrity,and loyalties were torn asunder.你的良心、信念、正直和忠诚都被扯得粉碎了。
