A dear friend of mine is from Norway, where her family owns a 500 year old homestead. The history of how the home was crafted gives me great pause. In anticipation of building a home that would survive great storms, my friend’s great, great, great grandfather purposefully chose trees that had survived hardship–rocky terrain, subsisting on rugged cliffs that bore the brunt of the wind, extreme cold that allowed very short growing seasons and dense internal rings of growth.

With his ax, he proceeded to mar the bark of each of these select trees severely. This forced the trees to produce an abundance of sap to heal the abrasions and prepare the interior of the tree for future longevity in even extreme circumstances.

A year later the selected trees were harvested and milled into interior and exterior boards for the well-crafted Norwegian house. Many winters the little house sheltered the family from -40 degree weather, standing strong and unabated.

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My friend went on to tell me, when her uncle recently cut into the wooden walls to add electrical outlets, it smelled like fresh cut wood. The rich sap kept the wood in a state of vitality.
This sounded familiar—

Psalm 92:12-15
The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the LORD;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,
to declare that the LORD is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Oh, that I could remind myself in trying times that hardship, chosen by God (not my own stupidity) is good for us. I must remember to trust His caring hand in each detail. His masterful work never goes beyond His view. He likes to be asked for mercy. He wants us to surrender to His craftsmanship. He knows what trails will prepare us for His chosen work ahead. As long as we heed His correction, we are on a good road, building sap to strengthen our soul.
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11 (NIV)

Praise Him in hardship James 1:2-4 for this produces perseverance that we may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.