I once had the opportunity to meet (Apple) Dan Miller, an Amish neighbor of my Dad. He told me that years ago Dad had complained to him that his apple trees looked beautiful but weren’t producing any apples. Known far and wide for his apples, (Apple) Dan told my Dad to go home, grab a hammer and give his trees a severe beating around the trunk. He said they needed to have something wake them up – that life had been too easy and they needed a challenge to come alive. While this seemed counter to the careful fertilizing, watering and nurturing my Dad had been giving his prized trees, he trusted the wisdom of his Amish neighbor.
The next year the trees produced so heavily that Dad saw branches breaking under the weight of the massive number of apples. With a little research I now find that this is not an uncommon approach. Want more crepe myrtle blooms? Pull branches down almost to the breaking point, then let them snap back into place. We know that roses, if left to themselves, will grow foliage but few roses. The best way to get them to produce what they are designed to do is to cut them back severely annually and shovel down to cut off growing roots.
With a little research I found this from an old farmer’s almanac:
“The easiest way to make a fruit tree bear more fruit sounds a little crazy but it works. The tree must feel like it is under attack, and therefore needs to produce some seeds so the species will carry on after it dies. Sounds crazy, I know, but if you have any kind of fruit tree that is not bearing very much year after year, then try this simple solution. Trees are living things and have learned how to survive and carry on through difficult times. They adapt to situations, if they possibly can. All you have to do for an unproductive fruit tree to bear more fruit is to stimulate the reproductive hormones. Do this by whacking the side of its trunk six to eight times with a sturdy baseball bat. This will not hurt the tree.”
Is there a lesson in this for us? Is it to our benefit that we seek to avoid any kind of challenge? Does a job loss, business failure or home foreclosure “kill” us – or do those very beatings hold within them the potential to make us stronger and more productive? Do we shrink back into safety or can that challenge wake up the very best we have to offer?
As parents, how do we bring out the best in our children? Henry David Thoreau said: “I see young men, my townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these are more easily acquired than got rid of. Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in.”
Every day I hear from people who have been given all the advantages – prestigious university degrees, fine homes, cars and positions. And they suspect the easy life they’ve been given is keeping them from the challenge of adventure that would release the best version of themselves.
Are you taking the “safe” route in life to avoid the stresses and challenges that are trying to release your biggest harvest?
And no, you probably don’t need to go find someone to beat you or to create a stressful situation in your life. I know that in mine, those things have just shown up consistently. But I hope I’m getting smarter in seeing “What does this make possible?”
Some feel a life of ease
Should give them all that they please
When life gets rough
They should become tough
And there will be more than they can seize
Some feel that a life of ease
Should give them more than they please
When life becomes rough
They will become tough
There will then be more than they can seize
Cliff,
Ah I love your meaningful little rhymes.
My wife has been wanting me to get motivated to find a new position for quite some time now. Even though I complain about my job quite a bit, she says I’m too comfortable and need to get motivated to find a better job. So I told her about your story and she thought I should take it to heart. However, for me, having her hit me on the legs with a baseball bat six or seven time really hurt!
Bob – I totally understand your resistance to getting that beating from your wife. But it may show up in another way – keep your eyes open.
Dan, this is solid and powerful. I’ll be sharing it with our older kids in next week’s entrepreneurial incubator meeting. Incredible how clearly God reveals truth through his creation, if we have ears to hear it. I believe it was Thoreau who said, “Nature has much to teach us, but it is a rare individual with the patience to wait for an oak to finish a sentence.”
Chris – ah yes, we do tend to be quite impatient don’t we –
Dan, I really connected with your story. A few years ago I asked my father why he thinks I left home rather early in my twenties. He thought I left because they, my parents, could not give me what I wanted. I corrected him and explained that it was simply too good for me at home. Too easy. They did everything for me. I left so I can have some struggles and challenges that will allow me to grow. I’m not an apple tree, but moving out bore fruit.
Ofir – wow, what an affirming story for a parent to hear. And what a mature understanding you must have had to remove yourself from that comfort. Awesome!
In your survey you asked what is at stake if I don’t succeed. My answer was “not enough”. It is to easy for me to float along on the success I have.
I am willing to do some serious self trimming, but it scares my husband to death. Any advice on getting a spouse on board the trimming wagon?
Prayer