The Difference a Tree Makes
 
Once again we will enjoy a very simple Christmas--no frills, no expensive gifts, no egg nog!  We’ll spend Christmas together as a family appreciating the small, but wonderful blessings we have received.  This Christmas, however, is different because WE HAVE A TREE!!!
 
The boys were disappointed that we didn’t have a tree last year.  (Okay, we had a little block of wood painted like a tree, but that’s just not the same!)  I decided that this year I was going to find us a tree...a real Christmas tree.  I set out and drive around the other day, but all I could see were huge baobabs and thorny acacias.  Then I noticed a couple of small nurseries along the main road.  I stopped in and tried my best to describe in Swahili what kind of tree I wanted...I needed.  Finally the man said (in English), “Oh, you want a Christmas tree!”  Who would have thought it would be called that here?
 
Of course they didn’t have any, that would be too easy.  So I returned home empty-handed.  I didn’t have the heart to tell the boys that we probably wouldn’t have a tree again this year.  The next day, though, I picked up some packages at the post office.  Guess what was in the last box we opened.  That’s right!  A CHRISTMAS TREE!!!  And decorations, too.  The boys were so excited!  We all were excited!  We set it up and decorated it together...all fourteen inches of it.  We listened to Christmas music.  We talked about Christmas gifts.  We wrapped presents for our neighbors and workers.  
 
Wow!  What a difference a tree can make.
 
Hmm...
 
What a difference a tree did make!  Isn’t it interesting how some people go out of their way to avoid calling the tree that is decorated for the holiday called Christmas a Christmas tree?  Come on...a holiday tree?!  How dumb.  How sad.  We ought to feel sorry for people like that...people who don’t know the difference a tree can make.  Maybe instead of griping about who’s trying to take Christ out of Christmas, we ought to start telling people about the tree that makes the difference...the cross of Christ.
 
Hmm...
Monday, December 3, 2007