Soul Growth

If a tree is not growing, it is sure in the long run to be dying. And so are our souls. If they are not growing, they are dying; if they are not getting better, they are getting worse. This is why the Bible compares our souls to trees, not out of a mere pretty fancy of poetry, but for a great, awful, deep, world-wide lesson, that every tree in the fields may be a pattern, a warning to us thoughtless men, that as that tree is meant to grow, so our souls are meant to grow; as that tree dies unless it grows, so our souls must die unless they grow.--C. Kingsley