A page from the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho:

"So what should I do now?" the boy asked.

"Continue in the direction of the Pyramids, said the alchemist. "And continue to pay heed to the omens. Your heart is still capable of showing you where the treasure is.”

"Is that the one thing I still needed to know?"

"No," the alchemist answered. "What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we've learned as we've moved toward that dream. That's the point at which most people give up. It's the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.’

"Every search begins with beginner's luck. And every search ends with the victor's being severely tested."

The boy remembered an old proverb from his country. It said that the darkest hour of the night came just before the dawn.

Legend has it that as they crossed the Mojave Desert in the mid-1800s Mormon settlers named the famous tree after the biblical figure, Joshua. The shape of the tree reminded the settlers of the story where Joshua reaches up his hands to the sky in prayer, seeing the limbs of the tree as outstretched in supplication, guiding the travelers westward towards the ocean, towards salvation.

Today they are a symbol of an admirable spirit of strength and perseverance amidst adversity.

Joshua Trees are actually not trees but the world’s largest yucca in the world. The average lifespan of a Joshua Tree is said to be about 500 years.