What happens when your husband tells you to hurry up and pick a tree? Well, if you drove for half an hour, instead of going to a “local” farm ten minutes away, and then find they have slim pickings on the type of tree you want, you might end up with a surprise.
Little did we know when we brought this tree home that instead of a beautiful Christmas tree to admire, it would be a “teaching” tree. The 9 ½ foot noble fir, had a 5 ½ inch diameter trunk and weighed a lot! While Darrall held the tree upright, I tightened the tree stand and after a few minutes we looked at the tree and decided it was straight. We filled the stand and let it settle in for a day. I spent another day decorating the tree until it looked “perfect”. I was pleased with how it looked all decorated and beautiful. A couple of days later, I came home to find the tree had crashed! It was on the ground with ornaments strewn all over the floor. Some had broken and it was a mess.
We assumed the tree was too large for the stand and proceeded to buy a “better” stand. We trimmed the base of the tree and set it up again. We made sure the tree was straight, then filled the stand with water. Again, I gave it a day to settle in, then decorated it. I stood back and was pleased – it looked “perfect”.
The next night as I crawled into bed around midnight, just falling into a deep sleep, I hear a “crash!” I jumped up and thought “no, this can’t be happening again!” I rush to the staircase and see that the tree has fallen again! This time it was a bigger mess and I was frustrated. I love fresh cut trees, but I was ready to drag this thing out the front door and chuck it to buy an artificial one!
My dad snapped some sense into me and said we should at least try cutting it shorter before I give up on it. Maybe if it were shorter it wouldn’t fall over. That made sense. I mean, that would probably solve the problem with it falling over, right? So, we cut off over a foot and start all over. This time I was going to carefully inspect the tree to make sure it didn’t fall again. While setting the tree up I look at the trunk, then up at the top, back at the trunk, up to the middle of the tree. Guess what? The darn tree was crooked. I mean, REALLY crooked! If you set up the tree with the base of the trunk straight, the top is pointing South! If you set up the tree with the top straight, the bottom trunk is facing West! I finally took a really good look at the trunk of the tree and realized it twisted and turned in every direction! What appeared to be a “perfect” tree from the outside, was the most crooked tree I had ever seen.
We were finally able to set up the tree so it stood up. Not straight, but balanced so it hopefully would not fall again! We started to laugh because the tree which is now “balanced” looked awfully crooked! After waiting a few days to make sure it wouldn’t fall over again, I gave the decorating another shot. When I stand back and look at it, it looks great. You would never know what lies under the decorations!
Kind of makes me think about how in life we work so hard to make everything look good on the outside, many times masking the chaos and imbalance going on in our lives. The tree with all its hidden curves is a reflection of how it survived and adapted to the world around it. It compensated maybe for winds constantly blowing in one direction, then shifting in another direction. It was able to keep balanced and upright because of its strong roots. But once we cut it down, it no longer had the strength of its roots, the foundation that keeps it balanced. Just like in life we are confronted with many challenges and we have to be flexible and adapt. If our “roots” are strong and secure, we have nothing to fear. That’s where God comes into the picture. He is our root system. He is the foundation that keeps us upright and strong. If we cut ourselves off from Him, we can survive for a while, but eventually our spirit will wither, just as the tree does. God is our strength and stability. He keeps us balanced even through the rough times. So instead of focusing so much on our outsides, maybe we need to work on our “roots”.
Little did we know when we brought this tree home that instead of a beautiful Christmas tree to admire, it would be a “teaching” tree. The 9 ½ foot noble fir, had a 5 ½ inch diameter trunk and weighed a lot! While Darrall held the tree upright, I tightened the tree stand and after a few minutes we looked at the tree and decided it was straight. We filled the stand and let it settle in for a day. I spent another day decorating the tree until it looked “perfect”. I was pleased with how it looked all decorated and beautiful. A couple of days later, I came home to find the tree had crashed! It was on the ground with ornaments strewn all over the floor. Some had broken and it was a mess.
We assumed the tree was too large for the stand and proceeded to buy a “better” stand. We trimmed the base of the tree and set it up again. We made sure the tree was straight, then filled the stand with water. Again, I gave it a day to settle in, then decorated it. I stood back and was pleased – it looked “perfect”.
The next night as I crawled into bed around midnight, just falling into a deep sleep, I hear a “crash!” I jumped up and thought “no, this can’t be happening again!” I rush to the staircase and see that the tree has fallen again! This time it was a bigger mess and I was frustrated. I love fresh cut trees, but I was ready to drag this thing out the front door and chuck it to buy an artificial one!
My dad snapped some sense into me and said we should at least try cutting it shorter before I give up on it. Maybe if it were shorter it wouldn’t fall over. That made sense. I mean, that would probably solve the problem with it falling over, right? So, we cut off over a foot and start all over. This time I was going to carefully inspect the tree to make sure it didn’t fall again. While setting the tree up I look at the trunk, then up at the top, back at the trunk, up to the middle of the tree. Guess what? The darn tree was crooked. I mean, REALLY crooked! If you set up the tree with the base of the trunk straight, the top is pointing South! If you set up the tree with the top straight, the bottom trunk is facing West! I finally took a really good look at the trunk of the tree and realized it twisted and turned in every direction! What appeared to be a “perfect” tree from the outside, was the most crooked tree I had ever seen.
We were finally able to set up the tree so it stood up. Not straight, but balanced so it hopefully would not fall again! We started to laugh because the tree which is now “balanced” looked awfully crooked! After waiting a few days to make sure it wouldn’t fall over again, I gave the decorating another shot. When I stand back and look at it, it looks great. You would never know what lies under the decorations!
Kind of makes me think about how in life we work so hard to make everything look good on the outside, many times masking the chaos and imbalance going on in our lives. The tree with all its hidden curves is a reflection of how it survived and adapted to the world around it. It compensated maybe for winds constantly blowing in one direction, then shifting in another direction. It was able to keep balanced and upright because of its strong roots. But once we cut it down, it no longer had the strength of its roots, the foundation that keeps it balanced. Just like in life we are confronted with many challenges and we have to be flexible and adapt. If our “roots” are strong and secure, we have nothing to fear. That’s where God comes into the picture. He is our root system. He is the foundation that keeps us upright and strong. If we cut ourselves off from Him, we can survive for a while, but eventually our spirit will wither, just as the tree does. God is our strength and stability. He keeps us balanced even through the rough times. So instead of focusing so much on our outsides, maybe we need to work on our “roots”.
1 comment:
Thanks Cyd. just what i needed to be reminded of. Hope your Christmas was wonderful. Have a happy and healthy New Year.
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