The Power of Wood

Ugh...Sometimes I give Confucious way too much credit. 

Much to my surprise Henry Ford is actually the true author of one of my favorite prophetic phrases. It speaks simply to the dual benefit of a little hard work. That saying, of course, is...

"Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice."

I have always loved this saying  because it rings within my mind's ear every time I wield an axe or command a chainsaw.  Make no mistake, I am far from a modern day Paul Bunyon, but I do know how to fell a tree and I have long understood how true that saying really is.

But I am telling you right here, right now Mr. Ford came up a little short. Wood is much more powerful than that, for a single log has threefold the warming power.

How? The math is quite simple.

I recently had the honor and pleasure to serve some absolutely wonderful families of the Navajo nation. You see, life on the reservation remains hard. And as spoiled as most Americans are, few realize the constant struggle some face every day simply to provide the basic necessities of living. So when I was asked to help deliver firewood to the homes of those families in need, it wasn't a question that needed to be repeated. Besides...it would give me a chance to break in my jeep to see if it would pass muster on the sometimes challenging contours of the West.

To say I was humbled meeting the members of the Navajo is a gross understatement. One can not simply say they are a strong people. It's akin to calling the universe "kinda big". The people of the reservation are so much stronger than any people I have ever known for they persist on such meager provisions, it makes one realize how incredibly spoiled most of us truly are.

So how does this relate to Mr. Ford's saying?

Seeing and feeling the gratitude upon each family's face upon delivering a load of logs, one could not help but feel the wealth of appreciation that roared from within their hearts. In fact, Ephron, a Navajo daughter who assisted us in translation as we visited each and every house said there was no English word to describe their feelings of thankfulness, and that by far, was when the log blazed warmest.

So the log warms thrice...the cutting, the GIVING, and the burning.

And it has never been more satisfying.

I wonder what Confuscious has to say about that.

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And if you must know...the Jeep did not disappoint!