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From my bedroom window, the one thing that predominates my view is trees. They come in all sorts of varieties from short to tall and deciduous to conifer. When I lay down upon my bed (on the floor), two trees, in particular, are in view. I think each is a towering spruce, but I've never been very good at plant identification, so suffice to say I do know they are conifers.

Each of the two trees is, at least, 100 feet tall. The base of each features a sturdy trunk that is more than one foot in diameter. Each tree tapers in width as we move from bottom to top. The tiptop of each tree looks like nothing more than a mere twig.

The weather here in South Bend can be quite brusque, at times. While many of you are enjoying the wisps of springtime, we've been enjoying a prolonged windstorm with sheets of rain. As the winds whip near gale force, I often find myself glued to my upstairs window watching these two majestic trees sway against the sky.

We've endured several nasty storms over the past two years. Each time I worry that the howling wind will topple the tops of these two trees. But it hasn't happened. The trees know how to bend against the forceful winds and the treetops remain intact.

People can learn a lot from trees, if we would only watch and listen.