I had an old neighbour, a doctor named Gibbs. When Doctor Gibbs wasn't saving lives, he was planting trees. He had some interesting ideas about planting trees. He hardly watered his new trees.
Once I asked why and he told me that watering plants made them grow weaker. He said he had to make things difficult for the trees so that only the strongest could survive. He talked about how watering trees made them develop shallow roots and how, if they were not watered, trees would grow deep roots in search of water.
So, instead of watering his trees every morning, he'd beat them with a rolled up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the trees' attention.
Doctor Gibbs died a couple of years after I left home. Sometimes I walked by his house and looked at the trees I'd watched him plant 25 years ago. They were tall and strong.
I planted several trees myself a few years ago. Two years of caring for these trees meant they grew up weakly. Every time a cold wind blew, my trees shook. Adversity seemed to be good for Doctor Gibb's trees, they could never relax.
Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I often pray(祈祷)that their lives will be easy. But lately I've been thinking that it's time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to experience difficulties. There's always a cold wind blowing somewhere. What we need to do is to pray for deep roots, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won't be separated.
