The Blessing Tree7.21

 had gone into a supervisor's office to talk about a couple of issues that needed to be addressed. She, like all of the men and women in her department, had been through the proverbial "ringer." The stress was so intense, one could almost taste it.
我走进一位主管的办公室，和她讨论一些需要处理的事情。所有在这个部门工作的人，都像俗语所说的“被上了套”，她也不例外。他们所承受的压力之大，让人体会得到。

I had been assisting the department during a crunch period of being very short-handed, and was watching everyone get close to burn-out. When I inquired about her state of mind, she confessed that her home life was almost non-existant, because she was "zombieing through the evening". The next words out of her mouth expressed a frustration of my own: "This work is not my gift from God. My family is!"
我在这个部门人手不足的危急时刻来这儿帮忙，亲眼目睹了每个人都接近于精疲力竭的状态。当我问及她的精神状态时，她坦言自己几乎没有家庭生活，每天早晨醒来，她都像一具经过夜晚起死回生的行尸走肉。她接下来说的话也是我在受挫时想说的：“这份工作不是上帝给我的礼物。我的家庭才是！”

I had heard of hanging all of one's problems from the office on a "Trouble Tree" while driving home, to be picked up on the way back to the office in the morning, and for a brief second thought about suggesting that scenario.
我曾经听说过在下班开车回家之前把一个人在办公室遇到的所有难题都挂在一个“烦恼树”上，第二天早晨上班时再把它们拿下来。我思考片刻，想告诉她这个办法。

But what came out was: "Why don't we do something different? Let's have a Blessing Tree. On the way home in the evening, we could pull down a blessing to dwell on a character trait we adore in our spouse, a particular reason we love them, the love they or our children have for us. The list could be endless."
但是我说出口的是：“我们为什么不能做点与众不同的事呢？让我们种一颗‘祈愿树’，每天晚上回家之前获得一个愿望，祈求我们的爱人拥有我们所喜欢的性格特征，祈求我们因为某个特殊的理由爱他们，祈求我们的爱人和孩子对我们的爱。肯定有列不完的东西。”

When I tried it on the way home that night, the stress seemed to melt away. There was a "spring in my step" and when I arrived, a smile of joy and contentment was bubbling up from within! For the first time in 2 weeks, I was overjoyed to greet my wife and children!
那天晚上我走在回家的路上，压力好像消失了。我的步伐似乎也轻快起来，当我回到家时，我脸上浮起了微笑，这微笑源自内心的喜悦和满足。两个星期以来，我第一次为和妻子、孩子打招呼而感到由衷的高兴。

The Blessing Tree could make a major difference in your evenings, especially after those really tough days.
祈愿树使你的夜晚和以前截然不同，尤其是在那些艰难的日子之后。