The Tree

It seems, does it not, as it every season in life is a result of a tree... 
And it seems as though everything, except for the Creator of the tree, came into existence or revolves around the story of a tree. 

And we each have our tree stories... ones that are marked by grace, and others that are marked by crushing sorrow... 

But this particular story of the Christmas tree ties everything together... everything ties together and is wrapped up in a beautiful package, sitting under a tree for you to open on that blessed morning... or this blessed evening... or anything and everything in between. 

So the story goes... 
There was once a tree, with beautiful fruits... with which two certain souls weren't allowed to feed themselves.

However, as time went by, deceit crept in and took their souls away from love by lying to them and enticing their minds and holding them captive in a prison of self reliance and self trust. 

Slowly, after the lie made them love sin and love the evil things on this earth, deceit kept on swerving, in snake like form... A demonic presence was suffocating people until God had to make waters rain on them because God Himself was being suffocated with grief over His creation. 

So waters wiped out the generation of deceit, and a boat was built by trees, one which could fit enough humans and animals to become a world so big as the one we live in right here, right now. 

And the boat drifted for quite some time, because God wanted to show that He is powerful enough to make rain fall endlessly,
and He is powerful enough to sweep His fingers across the floors of Heaven and make that rainfall stop. 

And that's what it did... and the ground was dry because the hand of God made them dry, just like He called for there to be dry land in His Creation. So the story of our dear Noah is like a story of a kind of second creation by the original, and only capable, Designer of it all. 

But human souls kept on using trees for wood to build their kingdoms high. And then they kept falling, 
but without hesitation, a new kingdom was being built before their very eyes and sin kept on making everything fall apart and it was a desperate cycle of hopeless situations...

And this cycle kept on going, century after century, and then finally God decided to make a man who would become a carpenter who would build a small barn for some animals and a food trough. 

And then a baby boy was born, in that little wooden, cozy, smelly, hay covered barn. 
And then the boy grew up and became a carpenter...

And maybe, someone He crossed paths with ---in his --around 35 years of walking and talking and breathing breaths of belief--- built another thing out of a tree... 

The old rugged cross. 
It was that tree that gave the Man splinters on His back, and holes in His arms... and who knows, maybe those holes are still there... 

But then the man defeated the tree, and became victorious over all that the tree held... sin, sorrow, shame, and everything in between. 

And afterwards a gentle hush came, until someone decided to build a church out of a tree. And beauty arose from ashes. 

You see, trees play a part in the beginning parts of our hope stories. 

When we live lives of deceit, instead of being followers of Truth, we are living lives that declare the victory of the first tree; the tree of knowledge of good and evil, 
but when we live lives following the footprints of Truth Himself, we are living lives that declare victory OVER the cross. 

When we put our Christmas tree up every year, at the center of the tree hangs a cross kind of nail... 
To symbolize the way God used and uses trees in our lives to point to the goodness of Jesus Himself. To point to the Only One who is worthy of worship and adoration. 

This season is about cherishing our Savior, who decided to walk the road to the tree, and pave the road for many people 
because of the VICTORY He had and still has over the tree. 

This Christmas, 

unwrap God's gift for you... It's sitting there, right there, the tree... a glorious reminder that Jesus has defeated all of the things in our lives that seem like they're not marked by grace...
And He reminds us that His Grace is SUFFICIENT for EVERYONE...

Right here, 

Right now.