Last weekend, my six year old nephew spent the night with us. He slept on our couch in the living room where the Christmas tree is set up. When I awoke in the morning and went in t0 check on him, I found him sitting in front of the tree - just staring at it in wonder and imagination. It reminded me of when I was that age; I used to do the exact same thing. However, I added a small twist to the scenario; I would actually lay on my back with my upper torso under the tree looking up into what seemed to be an endless array of colours and lights. There was just something fascinating about it; my imagination would be ignited with visions of Christmas and all that I wanted it to be. I would lay there for hours, mesmerised by the lights and thinking of the memory that each ornament represented. I have to admit that even today I catch myself staring at the tree (from an upright position these days) and daydreaming of Christmases gone by, or wandering what the future holds, or just enjoying the soft glow of the lights. Each ornament still represents a special memory for me about my family and the different stages of our life.
In the bible, people are sometimes likened to trees. I have often considered how we are like Christmas trees. We were uprooted from the world and brought into God’s house. He has placed us in a place of prominence (seated in heavenly places), covered us in His glorious light, and year by year he adorns us with ornaments of His grace. As we plug our lives into him through worship in spirit and truth, and we learn how to live by faith, we begin to glow brighter and brighter. Hopefully, each year we have new ornaments that represent something significant that the Lord has done in our lives as a result of yielding ourselves completely to Him. The ornaments are outward manifestations of God’s grace that others can see when they look at our lives; each one holding a special memory for us. God’s love is amazing! He has taken our dead lives and brought them to life - he has taken what was once ordinary, decorated it with his glory and he desires to put it on display for everyone to see what he has done. He wants others to look at us the way my nephew was looking at my Christmas tree - with awe and wonder. Not because of the tree - but because of what’s on it.
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