It Christmas Eve - had to trot this out!
Lil Mikey’s sad little Christmas tree story
I didn’t want to go. Crowds, crowds and more crowds – yet it was the Home Depot. Mindlessly breathing in the smell of new tools, my wife abruptly suggested that I should move on. As usual, I had the “IGNORE” mode on! I pulled the trigger. As to be expected, electrons flowed, it sprung to life, became useful, and oh so wonderful and powerful. Electrons weren’t the only things flowing. Testosterone. Creative juices. What noise, what power! All I could think about was “I need it – imagine all the things I could make!”
Come on Hon!
Snapping to, I obeyed! I followed the voice – yet where was I? Oh yes, tree hunting! Still feeling the effects of the surging testosterone, my mind was woozy from the in-rush of creative juices, I moved robotically. Through the automatic doors into and past the greenhouse. Some primeval force pushed me right past all those perfect green needles – back - all the way back to a dark corner far removed from the bustle of the season. There, hanging on a wire, half there and half not - crooked and slanted. More, bare than full and with its bottom limbs more brown than green, it stood - the sad little Christmas tree. Standing would not be the correct interpretation of what it was doing. The poor little tree was doing the best it could. All the busy people were passing it by, searching for the perfect tree - the tree to glorify the front window. The tree that would show the world how expert they were in picking the perfect Christmas tree.
There in front of me stooped this poor pitiful tree. Its brown needles were oozing sadness. Melancholy seemed to cloth its sad existence.
I just stood there peering into its pitifulness, its meagerness. Gazing at its wretchedness, a tear moistened my cheek over the loneliness I imagined it was feeling. The tree had been singled out, set aside and discarded; it was awaiting its trip to the dumpster.
startled – awakened again ---
Let's go, Hon!
Vaguely I overheard something being said about no good trees here and needing to leave. I was feeling pressure to go about the rest of my day. Yet, firmly positioned in a shady corner of my brain was a vivid picture of that sore, lonely tree.
Our next stop was a tree lot in front of the school that had proudly been set up on that corner for forty years. It smelled like a forest, but with bright lights and people and employees running around. A small fire was smoldering, spreading the warm, comfortable smell of conifers up and down the street. But I couldn’t tarry, the process of elimination had begun without me - Too big – Too small – Too fat – Too skinny - Too tall - Too short - Needles not right - The needles will fall off. Until “just right!” “What ----- $300?” “We’ll do the Christmas Vacation thing.”
Let’s go, Hon.
What to do now? The wife, was by now, not in the best of moods. Discouraged, all she wants is the perfect Christmas tree. She wanted the “One” to display in the front window. Driving on, we had the radio tuned to the All-Christmas station. In between all the bells and carols, nestled in after the red-nosed reindeer and before the snowman and the jolly old elf was the song that was to stir my soul - “Mary did you know!” Being sung was the line, “And when you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.” This line summed it all up in the blink of my eye – much like a 2x4 up aside my head. This season is about more than gifts, more than family, more than tinsel, more than all the bright twinkling lights, and more than the big star on the local barn. Certainly more than the big blow-up Santas.
My thoughts went to that corner of my mind, that dusty little-used and secret corner, the corner where the picture of that lonely tree resided. This is a season of love – yes! This is a season of giving – yes! This is a season of light – yes! But more importantly, it is a season of life! God gave life to his son so that we, his children, may have life through him.
Also a season of appreciating. But not just to appreciate what we have, but to appreciate what we have been given by God. He gave us his Son - perfection in human form. Jesus probably had his warts – his dirty feet. He looked like the rest of us – perhaps even less so. He was tempted like the rest of us – perhaps even more so. The finest kingly clothes he never wore. He did not have a house or even a bed to his name. He was despised, hated, and feared by many - yet loved by more.
I knew what I had to do! I put the Jeep in gear and made a quick left. It was as if I didn't need to steer; the car seemed knew the way without my intervention. It made a beeline to the Depot, a trip it had made countless times. Breathlessly I raced to that lonely back corner. Breathlessly, I was hoping that I had not strayed from my mission for too long. It might not be there – having been ingloriously tossed into the dumpster. But there in the dark shadows - the Tree - the perfect tree, with all its crookedness, its barrenness, and all its brownness. The unloved tree.
It will now have a home
It will now shine brightly
It will now have a purpose
It will now be loved - no longer sad!
My Christmas now complete, I was satisfied and smug. A sense of freshness and contentedness took up residence in my soul. It was so not because of all the bright lights and shiny gifts. It was so, because of one tiny, lonely crooked tree! One lonely tree showed me that this was the season for Life!
