Several years ago, while hiking with my son and grandsons in Utah’s Zion National Park, we enjoyed the beauty of the sandstone formations. One thing in particular that amazed me was the resolute nature of the plants in that dry desert environment.
There were rugged but desperate trees growing out of cracks in sandstone walls. Wherever a quantity of dirt had accumulated in a crack, the dark crevice would protect the seeds blown there by the wind. Then a plant would get its beginning when the first rains came. The small and gnarled shrubs and trees that are produced by these crevices are wonders in and of themselves, considering the hot desert climate.
We walked by a tree growing out of such a crevice that had also been struck by lightning and was split in half. One half of the tree had been burned black by the lightening and was evidently dead. The other half, though terribly gnarled by its struggle to suck whatever nutrients and moisture it could from that little crack in the canyon wall. The gnarled twisted trunk appeared to be dead, but about ten feet up at the very top of the trunk were several small, twisted branches with a few beautiful green leaves. These few green leaves were pulling as much light from the sun as they possibly could to provide the life giving photosynthesis to that struggling tree. What an inspiration that was for me. These sandstone, crack trees were hanging onto life with every crumb of nutrient, moisture and light that they could attract to it. Not all of them made it, but it was obvious that none gave up easily and without a tremendous struggle to survive.
The thought came to me that a picture of these struggling shrubs or trees should be hung in every hospital room in the country. As they did for me, they may also provide the inspiration and deter- mination to survive to those lying in hospital beds. They may try a little harder to suck a little more oxygen into their lungs or to eat one more spoonful of nourishing food that may be hard for them to swallow. Maybe they would be as inspired to hang onto life as these gnarled trees have been determined to do for centuries. They might recover if they were willing to make just a little more effort and display a greater determination to live.
I remember reading the following thought published in the Cache Valley News Letter written by Edward W. Smith, “Imagine that someone came along and asked you to stretch yourself as high as you could. Then after you stretched yourself, that person asked you to stretch another inch, but you said you have done as much as you can. Then imagine that the person said, they would give you $1,000,000 if you could stretch another inch. Chances are you would make that extra inch.” Well, we are like that in all parts of our lives. We may have an extra inch that we are not using, but can pull it out for the right price. Why not find that extra inch in all parts of our life right now in order to be successful at everything we do.
We all have more tough in us than we think we do on a daily basis. There are hundreds of true stories that tell about survivors who didn’t think they could make it to the end. They were ready to give up just when a thought of a loved one came to mind, and they gave it another inch and made it to safety. We all need to be inspired from time to time in order to survive whether it be by a struggling Zion’s crack tree or some other similar story of survival in life.