day no. 15,602: man-timber

"The first requisite of all education and discipline should be man-timber. Tough timber must come from well grown, sturdy trees. Such wood can be turned into a mast, can be fashioned into a piano or an exquisite carving. But it must become timber first. Time and patience develop the sapling into the tree. So through discipline, education, and experience, the sapling child is developed into hardy mental, moral, physical man-timber." -- Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness, Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the Seven Manly Virtues

Men should want to be good wood. They should aspire to be healthy, hard-wood trees that can be depended upon for shade in the heat of the day or firewood for the cold of night. They should be able to take many shapes for different uses when necessary, but not be so shapeless as to be useless for the shape in which you find them. Man should be deeply rooted in the richness of his depths and majestically expansive in the reaching of his heights.

Psalm 1:1-3
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord;
and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, 
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;
his leaf also shall not wither;
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Like the oak on the hillside, majestic in form:
Like the ship on the ocean, prepared for the storm;
When that storm would engulf, or would dash to the ground,
They come forth from the conflict with victory crowned
--- John M. Morse, Manhood