Christmas Trees

Hi all, 

I’m putting down in writing a few thoughts I’ve had that have been running round inside my head for the last week or so, leading up to Christmas. 

God gave me a picture about a week ago, and has added and embellished what He has given me during the recent days. The picture He gave me was of a beautiful Christmas tree, standing in a family home at this time of the year. It was lush, green and with well formed branches giving it a perfect, even shape. The tree was adorned with tinsell, bright lights and sparkling baubles. At the top of the tree was a bright, shiny star…….God then showed me a small fir tree, standing almost alone in a sparce area with only a few smaller saplings for company. The weather around it was bleak, cold and dismal…..

I was at the gym a few days later and although I was listening to worship music on my earphones I could see the TV screen and caught the gist of the program and with the aid of sub-titles saw that it was about a local market in London and it was focusing on some of the sellers at this time of the year. One particular store owner was talking about how he collected his Christmas trees, put them in his lorry, took them to market, sold them and then repeated the process. He said that ‘ the end of the story for the Christmas trees was that they ended up, in someone’s home where they would be beautifully decorated and loved by all the family bringing much pleasure at this time of year’……..Wrong- the end of the story for the Christmas trees is being burned when Christmas is over, or going to the recycling center along with hundreds of others. The truth is that however  beautiful the tree looks like, with all it’s glitter, it is in fact already dying. It has been cut off from its roots and its beauty is already fading. On the other hand the small lonely tree, being rooted in good soil, will in time flourish and be surrounded by similar trees, all eventually growing in stature and height together to become a mighty forest. 

This picture is relevant in as much as how blessed we are and shows us God’s great love for us by reminding us that He sent us a Saviour so we can show our gratitude at this time of the year. We may not be the best looking, the most talented, the most wealthy or the most charismatic but what we do have is salvation leading to eternal life as we are firmly rooted in Him. As we continue to grow in Him our number will gradually increase until we become the mighty army He has intended us to be.

Thanks be to God and praise for His precious Son, who brings us salvation, His Gift that He freely gave for us all.

 May Jesus bless you all greatly in 2017

 Keith Havard