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Making an Oak Tree

In this blog, Chris Zaugg, Executive Director of Keynote (an international arts ministry), shares his views, advice and experience on life and people. A father and his son entered the dean’s office at the university the younger man was to enter. The father told the dean that he wanted his son to graduate as quickly as possible so as to embark on his career. “How fast can we make it happen?” he asked. The dean paused and said, “Sir, when God wants to make a squash, He takes three months. When He crafts an oak tree, He takes 100 years. Which would you like your son to be?”

In a culture that glorifies speed and expediency, character and process are often overlooked. We don’t want to wait for anything, which is why we have mounting debt, financial scandal, unwanted pregnancies and any number of other consequences.

This blog isn’t here to bash those making expedient decisions….I make them too. I just hope we can encourage each other to take the longer view – making oak trees, not squash.