Trees Up
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.”- John 12:32
This December is different! I’ve been overflowing with DELIGHT from what took place at our Christmas Tree Giveaway Event. I am still celebrating how our church loved our community this holiday season with the gift of 130 free Christmas trees. I have received a handful of thank you messages from people and even images of a beautifully decorated tree donning their home.
One of the things that also made the event special was the superior quality of each tree. I wasn’t sure what to expect as this was our first time doing this event. We were also purchasing the trees at a wholesale rate, so I figured some trees would be flimsy, empty, and already drying out. I was bracing for the well-known saying, “You get what you pay for.” However, upon arriving at the tree lot, I was amazed to see that each tree was fresh, full, and flush green from top to bottom. As we loaded them onto the truck, it was if the words of Isaiah 55:12 rang out in chorus, “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”
As beautiful as the trees from the event were, there is another tree that is breathtaking and beyond all earthly value. It is the tree that Jesus was nailed to and died on that beautifully displays the love of God and fully pays for our new life in God. Galatians 3:13 tells us, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.” Tradition has it that the Christmas Tree comes to us from Germany, where trees were decorated with apples for use in a play about Adam and Eve. The believers in Germany also decorated their trees with WAFERS (symbolizing communion/the body of Christ redeeming us) and CANDLES (communicating Jesus as the light guiding our lives).
Our Christmas event blessed many, but more than that my prayer is that each person who carried a tree away from our lot would allow Jesus to carry them in His loving arms. Revelation 22:2 displays the special and superior found in Heaven’s lot, “On each side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” The beauty of the tree is something we all see during Christmas, but may the life that Jesus gave on the tree be what we celebrate and are changed by forever!