Healthy Trees Never Stop Growing

Posted on February 2, 2026 by mitchteemley
‘Beacon Hill’ by Dayne Topkin at unsplash.com
‘Berry Picking’ by Mario Mendez at unsplash.com

Thought for the Week: Healthy Trees Never Stop Growing

“If a tree’s strength is judged while it is still a seed, it is mistaken as weak.”
~Idowu Koyenikan

“The media only writes about the sinners and the scandals. But that’s normal, because a tree that falls makes more noise than a forest that grows.”
~Pope Francis

“We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished, but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road.”
~Martin Luther

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” ~Terry Pratchett

“(Growing up) is a terribly hard thing to do. It is much easier to skip it and go from one childhood to another.” ~F. Scott Fitzgerald

“We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it.”
~Rick Warren

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
~Viktor E. Frankl

“My destination is no longer a place, rather a new way of seeing.”
~Marcel Proust

“The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.”
~C. JoyBell C.

Healthy trees never stop growing.

∴

About mitchteemley

Writer, Filmmaker, Humorist, Thinker-about-stuffer
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25 Responses to Healthy Trees Never Stop Growing

  1. Gemavie says:
    February 2, 2026 at 11:25 am

    Thanks Mittch.

    This tapestry of growth weaves together the steadfastness of a tree, the conscious pause between impulse and action and the journey of self-discovery, urging us to embrace vulnerability and fearlessly step into the unknown to learn, change and truly live, transforming every external event into fertile ground for inner expansion and freedom, not just reaction.

    Tree’s Steadfastness: Like a healthy tree constantly reaching, our fundamental nature is to grow, putting down roots and extending upward, but this requires nurturing change from within.

    The Sacred Space: The pause between stimulus and response is our divine freedom, a moment to breathe, question and choose alignment with our values over mere habit, transforming triggers into opportunities.

    New Sight: True destination is not a physical place but a radical shift in perception, seeing the world and our place in it with new eyes, a direct result of this deliberate inner work.

    Fearless Learning: Growth demands change, change demands learning and learning requires exposure—throwing ourselves into the open, shedding old skins and finding our deepest self, a courageous act of self-creation.

    This is a call to inhabit the space, to stop being reactive driftwood and become the conscious cultivator of our own lives, finding our deepest purpose not in avoiding the fire, but in choosing how we walk through it, growing taller with every deliberate step.

    The hour you stop growing you die.

    Reply
  2. Lynne says:
    February 2, 2026 at 12:08 pm

    “throw yourself” … <3

    Reply
  3. Andrew McDowell says:
    February 2, 2026 at 12:23 pm

    Excellent quotes, Mitch.

    Reply
  4. Gail Perry says:
    February 2, 2026 at 1:55 pm

    Rick Warren really resonates here. It conjures up a strange image, as if someone let AI loose with the task of producing a tree to convey the idea expressed in the Warren quote. It’s the image of a tree, growth stunted, bending somehow backwards. I’m not saying very well, but I hope it makes a little sense. Thanks always, Mitch. 🙏😍🇨🇦

    Reply
  5. Liz Gauffreau says:
    February 2, 2026 at 4:01 pm

    I love Pope Francis’s take on the news media’s “If it bleeds, it leads.”

    Reply
  6. Carla says:
    February 2, 2026 at 8:52 pm

    A lot of food for thought here, Mitch.

    Reply
  8. NEERAJ SINGH says:
    February 3, 2026 at 1:52 am

    beautiful picture 👍

    Reply
  9. ibarynt says:
    February 3, 2026 at 1:16 pm

    The Pope Francis one is very true today.

    Reply
  10. peggywritesblog says:
    February 3, 2026 at 4:10 pm

    Love all the quotes, especially Pope Francis! Thanks, Mitch!

    Reply
  11. Anonymous says:
    February 4, 2026 at 4:06 pm

    Great stuff! I need to print every one of these quotes and tape them to the inside of my eyelids. Thanks, Mitch.

    Reply

  12. Pingback: Healthy Trees Never Stop Growing – QuietMomentsWithGod

  13. Thotaramani says:
    February 5, 2026 at 1:03 am

    Amazing, Lovely pics.💐

    Reply
  14. CattleCapers says:
    February 7, 2026 at 12:10 am

    “So long and thanks for all the fish.” My favorite Terry Pratchett quote.

    Reply
  15. Anonymous says:
    February 20, 2026 at 12:38 pm

    Mitch
    Thank you for the gifts the Lord has given you. They are a blessing to many. “And Yahweh said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh? So now, go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth and will instruct you what you shall speak.””
    ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭4‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭
    Warren

    Reply

  16. Pingback: Healthy Trees Never Stop Growing | Restored People Community

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