Moments With Marti
This blog is simply an avenue for me to share my heart felt thoughts from scripture as well as from my every day moments…My prayer is that there will be a small nugget of hope and encouragement that you can apply to your life as well.
My sister sent me some pictures of her Christmas Trees (yes, she has more than one). She loves Christmas, she loves decorating her home, she loves decorating her trees. With each beautiful picture she shared with me the many memories collected through the years. She has always and is still using a paper angel made by her son when in Kindergarten (nearly 50 years ago), for the top of the tree. One tree is filled with picture ornaments of family members... Another tree has ornaments that reflect our Jewish heritage, blended beautifully with those that represent our Christ. The manger under the tree is from she and her husband's first Christmas in Ventura, California in 1962.
As she continued to tell about each ornament, a beautiful story unfolded right before my eyes... It was at that moment that I realized that every tree does have a story.
Look at your own Christmas tree. Can you remember when each ornament first adorned your tree? Maybe you have some that say "Baby's first Christmas"; or maybe you have ornaments that represent hobbies, or places traveled to. Or like our oldest son, they have a Cowboy Tree (fitting for a Rodeo Announcer). For several years we added ornaments with the names of God on them. All kinds of stories are told because of how a tree is decorated.
Trees are first mentioned in Genesis 2:9a "And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food". You can safely say that these trees were decorated with "food".
Then in Genesis 2:9b "The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil". And here these two tree were decorated as well, one with life and one with knowledge.
There is another tree of greater importance..... The Cross of Calvary. This cross, by the law at that time, is decorated with a human life.
Deuteronomy 21:22... “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree..."
The cross at Calvary, by love, was decorated with Jesus Christ our Savior"; Matthew 27 records the account of the death of Christ on the Cross.
What kind of story does your tree tell? And, what kind of tree does your "life" tell?
This year, as you decorate "your" tree, keep in mind that while we celebrate the "birth" of Christ, He came to "decorate" a unique tree for you...for me...for all who will come to Him.
Merry Christmas - Living By Grace,
Marti