Christmas Eve

You know who I am, don’t you?  That thing that is going to be out on your curb in a few days.  Dying up and shedding needles.  Wearing a few leftover strands of tinsel.  You know who I am.  I am a discarded Christmas tree.  Out here in the cold.  Waiting to be picked up by the Recycling truck.

Christmas is over for me, and I’m not sure if it ever started.  I was so looking forward to it!  Ever since my life began on a Christmas tree farm as a little sapling, I would hear stories from the older trees about how awesome Christmas was!  After all, that was why we were there in the first place.  Getting ready to share the light of Christmas in a warm home and be part of a wonderful celebration!  I heard grand tales of the lights, ornaments, and garland that would one day adorn my branches.  I heard legends of huge trees that got to go to big cities and be seen by thousands.  I was hoping I would grow big!  I couldn’t wait for the day that I got to be a Christmas tree, lit brightly, shining with the love and joy of Christmas!

But that never really happened for me.  It’s over now.  And here I am, drying up, shedding needles, and freezing out in the cold.  The home I was in really had no warmth, light, or love.  It just wasn’t the way I imagined it.  Something was missing.  Sure, I had lights and decorations on me, and this family went through the motions of Christmas, but it left me wondering: what’s this all about?  Something was missing, and I wanted to discover what it was.

So I began investigating.  Well, in the gray box that is sitting next to me out here, I found one of these. (our flyer). Apparently it was never used.  It says: “Rediscover Christmas.” It got me thinking.  We need to rediscover Christmas, because something was certainly missing from my experience with it!  How can I rediscover it?  How can I discover what made my ancestors light up so brightly at Christmas time?  What brought real light to their Christmas celebration?

I thought it might have been the PRESENTS.  The family whose house I was in had all sorts of presents!  All packaged with colourful paper and bows.  Incredible toys for children!  Expensive jewelry for mom and electronics for dad!  But you know what?  There are at least 3 of those toys in the garbage next to me.  (So is one of the earrings, but she doesn’t know that, unfortunately.)  I witnessed a gift exchange with their friends where everyone was supposed to give a $20 gift, but one gave a $50 gift just to look better than the others!  And you would be amazed at the things a Christmas tree hears:  Whispered comments like “that wasn’t what I wanted,”  “what a cheapskate!”  and “I can’t believe I gave him what I did when he gave me this!”    I don’t think PRESENTS are what brings light and love to Christmas!

Could it be PARTIES?  I don’t know.  Ask the empty booze bottles in the blue box sitting next to me.  Ask the empty bottle of aspirin next to them.  Look at the newspaper in the gray box: A little girl was just killed by a drunk driver returning from a party.  I’m not sure the parties held at my house brought any true meaning to Christmas.  Seemed to me to be more about hiding insecurities, covering up hurts, pretending to enjoy others’ company, and escaping reality.

So could it be DECORATIONS?  Well, I wonder how the broken string of lights in the garbage bag next to me feels about that?  Just because this house I was in was decorated so merrily, I didn’t sense that there was any real merriment inside their hearts.

Could it be FAMILY that brings light and warmth to Christmas?  Hmmm.  When the relatives showed up at this house, the only warmth it seemed to bring was friction.  Aunt Louise complaining about how uncomfortable the guest bed was. Grandpa constantly reminding everyone that this wasn’t how they used to do it when he was young. Uncle Herb criticizing his sister’s baking in front of all the guests.  Oh, there was plenty of warmth, but not the kind that lights up a Christmas celebration.  And they’re gone now, leaving the house empty and messy.

So what brings real LIGHT to Christmas?  What was missing in my experience of Christmas?  I know that it isn’t presents, parties, decorations, or family visits.  The family whose house I was in seemed to have plenty of that.  But something was missing.  There’s another family down the street that seemed to have none of those Christmas trappings, but it is this family that has helped me make a very important discovery...

The story begins when I was being sold as a Christmas tree, in one of those huge superstores.  There I was, minding my own business, hoping a nice family would take me home as their Christmas tree.  And this conversation took place right in front of me: A little boy, about 5 years old, was holding a lovely doll.  He held her so gently.  He turned to the woman standing next to him, and said “Auntie, are you sure I don’t have enough money?”  “I’m sorry,” she said sorrowfully, “right now we don’t have enough for presents.  The family has other needs.  Wait right here while I go get some things.  I’ll be right back.”

Meanwhile, a kind looking, elderly man was standing there observing this.  He asked the boy, “Who is the doll for?”  “It’s the doll my sister wanted so badly for Christmas.  She just knew that Santa would bring it.”  The man told him Santa would bring it.  But the boy said, “No, Santa can’t go where my sister is…I have to give the doll to my Mamma to take to her.”  The man asked where his sister was.  He looked up with the saddest eyes and said, “She has gone to be with Jesus.  My daddy says that Mamma is going to have to go be with her too.  I told my Daddy to tell Mamma not to go yet.  I told him to tell her to wait until I got back from the store.  Would you like to see my pictures?”  “Of course.”  So the little boy pulled out some pictures he had taken at the front of the store.  He said, “I want my Mamma to take these with her so she won’t ever forget me.”  I love my Mamma so much and I wish she did not have to leave me.  But Daddy says she will need to be with my sister.”

The older man’s eyes began brimming with tears.  He pulled a few bills out of his wallet and asked the little boy, “Shall we count that money one more time?”  The boy got excited and said, “Yes, I just know it has to be enough.”  So the man, while the boy wasn’t looking, slipped the money in with his and they began to count it.  Of course it was plenty.  The boy said softly, “Thank you, Jesus for giving me enough money.”  Then he looked at the old man and said, “I just asked Jesus to give me enough money to buy this doll so Mamma can take it with her to give to my sister.  And He heard my prayer!  I wanted to ask Him for enough to buy my Mamma a white rose too, but I didn’t.  But He gave me enough to buy the doll AND a rose for my Mamma!  She loves white roses so much.”  Then the boy’s aunt came back, and off they went.

I’m starting to put it all together now... A newspaper in the gray box from a week ago tells of a drunk driver hitting a car, killing a little girl, and leaving the mother was in critical condition.  Chances for her recovery weren’t good.  Well, in the paper from two days ago, the headline says the woman died.  There was a picture from the funeral.  In front of the young woman’s casket was that little boy, and on top of it was that beautiful little doll and a white rose.

And this is the family that lives down the street.  The house that didn’t have the lights, the Christmas tree, the presents, the parties, or the decorations.  The home that was missing half their family.  And yet, from their home, I heard some happy singing: Hail the heav’n born Prince of Peace, Hail the Son of Righteousness, Light and life to all He brings, Ris’n with healing in His wings, Mild He lays His glory by, Born that we no more may die, Born to raise each child of earth, Born to give us second birth, Hark the Herald Angels sing, Glory to the new-born King! 

Now I think I know what was missing from the Christmas I experienced!  I mean, why could they have been so happy in the midst of such tragedy?  The boy’s mother and sister were gone.  What could have given them hope?  Certainly not presents, decorations, or parties.  So what lit up their Christmas tree?  What lit up their Christmas celebration?  LOVE lit up their Christmas tree.  Jesus lit up their Christmas tree.  Jesus IS love.  He is light.  He is life.  He gives life.  That little boy knew He was going to see his mother and sister again in heaven because God sent Jesus here.  He was born that we no more may die!  Born to give us second birth!

The bible says: “God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.”  (1 Jn.4:8-9)  God is love.  Jesus is the way God expressed love to us.  The love that forgives us for our failures.  The love that gives us reason to love back.  The love that gives us life.  Eternal life. That LOVE is what lit up their Christmas, because they were celebrating the fact they would be with their loved ones again!

Please accept me as a metaphor.  A Christmas tree is a metaphor for your Christmas celebration.  Does LOVE Light Up Your Christmas Tree?  Does Jesus light up your Christmas tree?  John 1:9 says: “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”  Nothing can bring light to your Christmas tree, to your life, like Jesus.  Nothing can give you that hope in time of despair.  Nothing else can give you that forgiveness in time of guilt, that joy in a time of sadness.  Nothing can lead you to praise Him when it would be easier to do a lot of other things.  Nothing else would lead you to worship Him with your gifts and time when you could spend all those on other things.  Nothing else would do for you what Jesus did for you!

There is another tree that we associate with Jesus.  Although, this one didn’t have nice green pine needles on it.  No one put it in a stand and watered it.  They chopped all the branches off of it and jammed it in the ground.  No one put ornaments on it.  They pounded nails into it.  No one hung lights on it.  They hung the Light of the World on it.  This tree wasn’t in a home.  It was on a hill.  Outside of Jerusalem.  And it was on that tree that the greatest love in the world was given.  From Jesus to you.  The removal of all your sins.  The promise of peace with God.

“Consider how Jesus loved you.  He humbled himself.  He went from commanding angels to sleeping in straw.  From holding stars to clutching Mary’s finger.  The palm that held the universe took the nail of a soldier.  Why?  Because that’s what love does.  It puts the beloved before itself.  Your soul was more important than his blood.  Your eternal life was more important than his earthly life.  Your place in heaven was more important to Him than his place in heaven, so He gave up his so you could have yours.” (Max Lucado, A Love Worth Giving)  That is love.

Does that LOVE light up your Christmas tree?  Does your Christmas celebration glow with the realization that you are a loved child of God because of Jesus?  Will you rejoice this Christmas first of all because you know you are forgiven through Jesus and at peace with God because of what He did?  Will that undeserved love Jesus showed you be the thing that brings light and warmth to all the other things you enjoy tonight: family, friends, presents, parties, and decorations?  Will Jesus be the light in your Christmas tree?  Your Christmas celebration?  I pray that He will!  Let his love light up your life!   I gotta go now… that little boy and his dad are coming over with a gift for the family that lives in my house…

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