HaleySometimes, it takes a lowly Christmas tree to humble you and point you back to Jesus.
I cringed when we pulled our Christmas tree out of the box last year and the fake needles fell off in droves, leaving a winding trail from the attic to our living room.
We attached the three tree tiers together, only to realize two-thirds of the pre-lit lights didn’t work. While I was fluffing the tree, some of the limbs near the bottom had no more spring in them, sagging so low that they rested on the floor.
I thought about how sad our tree looked this year, but my kids didn’t see it. Instead, they saw excitement and expectancy of the Christmas season. They looked past the weariness of that tree to see the thrill of hope.
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So with their excitement and encouragement, we forged ahead and began decorating that tree. When our tree began to lean, our star topper fell to the ground and broke. Minutes later, several of my husband’s childhood ornaments broke after decades of Christmases.
But we pushed on and decorated that tree with what we had left, including a strip of ultra-bright outdoor color-changing LED lights. We stuffed ornaments in all the gaps in the branches, so much so that only the front half of the tree is decorated.
We reminisced over all the sweet preschool ornaments made of hand prints and smiling faces, remembering just how fleeting the years can be.
And just like that, the disheveled lowly state of my Christmas tree was forgotten. And for good reason:
Let us not forget the lowly state in which Jesus entered the world—in a manger in a barn as a baby.
In contrast to my surmounting pile of broken ornaments, branches, star topper and tree lights, HE CAME TO FIX THE BROKEN AND BE THE LIGHT.
“Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we.
Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord.
Oh praise His name forever.
His power and glory, evermore proclaim.” (O Holy Night)
