Thoughts on Christmas Trees

It’s about that time of year again. Time to put find the gloves, search for the hats, put on the heavy coat, jump in the car, and drive about ten miles to the Christmas Tree Farm. For twelve years we have cut our own tree. We have cut trees in three different towns at several different farms. We have forged into the farms in the freezing cold, pouring rain, and sometimes even while it is snowing. It takes only about five minutes to cut down a tree but well over an hour to find just the right one. When all three boys were home, the five of us would drive in two cars to the farm - - - one car for the passengers and one car for the tree. I can remember many times pulling into the farm, picking up the saw, and then, like ants, we would swarm in all directions, looking for the right tree. I like tall thin trees, my wife Chris likes big fat trees, and my sons all have different tastes. My oldest son is looking for a starlight tall, perfect tree. My middle son looks for the lonely “Charlie Brown” tree. My youngest looks for the funky, fun tree, something
really unusual. Actually last year, our youngest took the tree, cut off all the back branches, and hung it upside down on the wall, decorating it with fruit. I think their tastes in trees reflect their personalities or maybe it says something about their birth order. We would often find one we liked only to leave it to check out the next row and then “losing” the one we liked either to another “lumberjack” or to the fact we just couldn’t find it again. My life would be so much easier if God made all Christmas trees exactly alike.

I am reminded that there are trees that are exactly alike; we call them “artificial”. At the end of this Christmas season I want to buy an artificial tree when it is on sale for next year, since my kids will all be gone. That would make life a lot easier. I suspect, however, that boredom and sameness might take over after a couple of years. The monotony of going to the basement, retrieving a tree, putting in the branches, making sure all the branches are twisted and turned so tree will look real, is just about more than I can fathom. I wonder if I have the same attitude with the people I encounter, especially those on the porch. It would be great if I could make them to be just like me. That would be so much easier. If I could force them into my mold, making them all the same, they would have the same personalities, hopes, dreams, and desires, just like me. Maybe cloning is a good idea. If everyone were cloned from me (white, male, middle class, all-around nice guy) then we could get rid of all the “isms”, no racism, sexism, etc.
But then again, that would be artificial. It soon would become boring, monotonous, and I would get on my own nerves. I am learning more and more each day that God is very creative, and I am experiencing God’s creativity through the diversity that is my neighborhood. The Christmas tree farm is full of trees and our neighborhood is full of people. As with the farm, where all the trees are different, so it is with our neighborhood. I can say that my life in the neighborhood is far from boring, and I don’t think I would want it any other way.

I do have an idea for my Christmas tree issue. Buy an artificial tree, decorate it, and when Christmas is over drag it into one of the empty bedrooms and bring it out the next year. So easy. I will have to see what Chris thinks about my idea. Unfortunately for me, if you know Chris, you know her thoughts. 12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason
cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (1 Corinthians 12:12-20)