Gene's Blog

Two wonders from Steve

A double dose of Steve Goodier today – two marvelous stories, both containing truths that would do us all well to remember. I’ve talked a bit, and will much more often during this coming campaign season of the pitfalls of giving tax cuts to the wealthy on the assumption that they will invest those funds in the infrastructure of our world, or increase their giving to charitable causes. The first story talks about what really happens when you give “compassionate conservatives” tax breaks, which, you may guess, comes as no surprise to me. The wisdom in the book he cites, though, is eternal. Maybe that is what pastors ought be reading from on Sunday mornings. What they’ve been reading from doesn’t seem to have had much effect. I’m not so convinced of the eternal truth in the second story, in that sometimes wounds may do more than strengthen us, they may kill us. It is hard to argue that the men, women and children being blown apart by bombs the world over each day are going to be much strengthened by that experience. If however, we consider those experiences, as the bull walking around the tree, and if those wounds then cause the world to rethink how we treat each other, then it may be that the world itself will be stronger for what we are going through now. One hopes. much love, :^) gene

A FORMULA FOR A SUCCESSFUL LIFE

I have a friend who prepares taxes. He lamented with me once about some of his wealthier clients – those with six and seven figure incomes. Some of these people, he said, even despite the obvious tax benefits, refused to give any of their money away. Some are spending more money on grooming their pets than on feeding hungry children. They simply have not discovered the importance and power of giving. And sadly, these wealthier clients are in a position to do something significant, but they choose to do nothing at all.

Author Kent Nerburn wrote a book titled LETTERS TO MY SON: A Father’s Wisdom on Manhood, Life, and Love. In one letter, he teaches his son the value of generosity:

“Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance, and none can say why
some fields will blossom and others lay brown beneath the August sun. Care for those around you. Look past
your differences. Their dreams are no less than yours, their choices in life no more easily made. And give.
Give in any way that you can, of whatever you possess. To give is to love. To withhold is to wither. Care less
for your harvest than how it is shared, and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace.”
How fortunate for one boy that his father is showing him how to truly live!

People who live well are experts at giving. They give their money; they give their time. They share their wisdom and their skills. They quickly say yes when asked to help. For them, the formula is simple: to give is to love and to love is to live. It’s a formula for a successful life.

STRENGTHENED BY OUR WOUNDS

Po Bronson, in his book WHY DO I LOVE THESE PEOPLE? (Random House, 2005), tells a true story about a magnificent elm tree.

The tree was planted in the first half of the 20th Century on a farm near Beulah, Michigan (USA). It grew to be a magnificent tree. In the 1950s, the family that owned the farm kept a bull chained to the elm. The bull paced around the tree, dragging a heavy iron chain with him, which scraped a trench in the bark about three feet off ground. The trench deepened over the years, though for whatever reason, did not kill the tree.

After some years, the family sold the farm and took their bull. They cut the chain, leaving the loop around the tree and one link hanging down. Over the years, bark slowly covered the rusting chain. Then one year, agricultural catastrophe struck Michigan in the form of Dutch Elm Disease. It left a path of death across vast areas. All of the elms lining the road leading to the farm became infected and died. Everyone figured that old, stately elm would be next. There was no way the tree could last, between the encroaching fungus and its chain belt strangling its trunk.

The farm’s owners considered doing the safe thing: pulling it out and chopping it up into firewood before it died and blew over onto the barn in a windstorm. But they simply could not bring themselves to do it. It was as if the old tree had become a family friend. So they decided to let nature take its course.

Amazingly, the tree did not die. Year after year it thrived. Nobody could understand why it was the only elm still standing in the county! Plant pathologists from Michigan State University came out to observe the tree. They observed the scar left by the iron chain, now almost completely covered by bark and badly corroded. The plant experts decided that it was the chain that saved the elm’s life. They reasoned that the tree must have absorbed so much iron from the rusting chain, that it became immune to the fungus.

It’s said that what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger. Or, as Ernest Hemingway put it, “Life breaks us all, but afterwards, many of us are strongest at the broken places.”

The next time you’re in Beulah, Michigan, look for that beautiful elm. It spans 60 feet across its lush, green crown. The trunk is about 12 feet in circumference. Look for the wound made by the chain. It serves as a reminder that because of our wounds, we can have hope! Our wounds can give us resources we need to cope and survive. They can truly make us strong.

— Steve Goodier
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If today brings even one choice your way
choose to be a bringer of the light :^) gene