温馨夜读II PART1 3.The Blessing Tree

 

[00:00.76]3.The Blessing¹ Tree

[00:05.77]I had gone into a supervisor’s office to talk about a couple of issues that needed to be addressed. 

[00:12.08]She, like all of the men and women in her department, had been through the proverbial “ringer.” 

[00:18.40]The stress was so intense, one could almost taste it.

[00:22.43]I had been assisting the department during a crunch² period of being very short-handed, 

[00:28.09]and was watching everyone get close to burn-out. 

[00:31.03]When I inquired about her state of mind, she confessed that her home life was almost non-existant, 

[00:37.39]because she was “zombieing through the evening”. 

[00:40.44]The next words out of her mouth expressed a frustration³ of my own: 

[00:45.07]“This work is not my gift from God. My family is!”

[00:49.20]I had heard of hanging all of one’s problems from the office on a “Trouble Tree” while driving home, 

[00:55.74]to be picked up on the way back to the office in the morning, 

[00:59.01]and for a brief second thought about suggesting that scenario⁴.

[01:03.36]But what came out was: “Why don’t we do something different? 

[01:07.39]Let’s have a Blessing Tree. 

[01:09.82]On the way home in the evening, 

[01:11.99]we could pull down a blessing to dwell on a character trait we adore in our spouse, 

[01:16.68]a particular reason we love them, the love they or our children have for us. 

[01:21.90]The list could be endless.”

[01:23.76]When I tried it on the way home that night, the stress seemed to melt away. 

[01:28.57]There was a “spring in my step” and when I arrived, 

[01:32.07]a smile of joy and contentment was bubbling up from within! 

[01:36.23]For the first time in 2 weeks, I was overjoyed to greet my wife and children!

[01:41.81]The Blessing Tree could make a major difference in your evenings, 

[01:45.97]especially after those REALLY tough days.

1 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

2 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

3 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

4 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。