Empty Profession

You are walking, for example, through a forest. Across your path, and on tho ground, lies a mighty tree, tall and strong. You put your foot lightly on it, and how great your surprise when, breaking through the bark, it sinks deep into the body of the tree—a result much less owing to the pressure of your foot than to the poisonous fungi and foul crawling insects that attacked its core. They have left the outer rind uninjured, but hollowed out its heart. Take care your heart is not hollowed out, and nothing left but the crust and shell of empty profession.—Guthrie