This is a prophecy that a friend heard given in a song a few years ago which I found challenging:
"Once there was a wood in the which all the trees enjoyed the wind
blowing through their branches. As the wind blew they would sway bending
before every gust. Twigs, branches and trunks all responded as it moved
through the wood.
Then one day the wind stopped blowing. The trees waited but the wind did
not return. Day after day they waited and waited, but still the wind
did not blow. After many days the trees began to talk amongst themselves
wondering what they could do. They really missed the excitement of the
wind rushing through the wood and the way it made them move. An older
tree said that there had been times before when the wind had not blown,
but that it had always returned. It encouraged them to keep on waiting
until the wind blew again, promising that it would.
Most of the trees however did not want to wait and kept discussing what
they could do. Finally, one tree suggested that they could make
themselves move just as if the wind was blowing. At first the other
trees said it was impossible, but they were persuaded to try. At first
they could do nothing, but with a lot of concentration they learned to
make their smallest twigs tremor just a little. Months went by and the
wind did not blow, but the trees became more confident as next bigger
twigs and then whole branches began to sway to and fro. Finally, they
learned how to make their trunks bend as if the there was a strong wind
pushing them back and forwards. The younger trees were over joyed, but
the old tree wasn't so enthusiastic, it warned that this movement, as
exciting as it was, was not the real thing.
More time went by and the wind still did not blow, and the trees in the
wood continued to make themselves sway as if the wind was blowing. Then
one day they heard a sound they had almost forgotten. It was the sound
of the wind moving through their branches, and as it did those branches
began to sway in a way they had not done for a very long time. Then the
wind blew stronger and stronger until it became a gale which was blowing
so hard that their trunks were bending before it and branches were
breaking off. In the midst of the chaos one of the younger trees asked
the old tree what was happening. The old tree replied with a smile that
this was the real thing. It was dangerous, but it was the real thing."
