We put up a Christmas tree every year in December. It’s a tradition in our house. If you asked me why we do this, I doubt that I could give you a good answer. We begin with a plain tree. Then we start covering it with decorations. Sometimes the decorations follow a theme: a white tree, a gold tree, ornaments that remind us of important moments in our family history. Once we had a tree with the Grinch as a theme. By the time we are finished…….if we do good job…….you can hardly see the tree for the decorations. Then we throw a party and pass out gifts.
Great fun.
It occurs to me that our Christmas tree is a metaphor for our life, our faith, and our relationship with our creator. We begin with something that comes from outside of our experience…….something created by an external entity. The tree. It is natural. It is beautiful. It is real. It is true. It is God’s creation. Then we start adding to it. We add things that we like. We add things that we love, maybe things that we want……things that we hope for. And, in the process, we pretty much bury the tree in ornaments, lights, and tinsel. And we stand back and admire it……..our creation. God’s contribution is pretty much lost beneath the glitter that we have applied. God’s creation is obscured by our embellishments.
I’m sitting in my kitchen this morning, looking out the windows as the day happens. I see grass, trees, a dusting of snow, and the occasional deer. All of this is the work of my creator. It is beautiful. It is true. It is perfect. And I am blessed beyond expression.
But, if I look further, I can see radio towers, a factory, cars, planes, and a water tower. All of these are things the we, mankind, have added…….embellishments. I am blessed that, in my back yard, the added embellishments do not overpower and obscure God’s contribution to the view. It’s not hard to go to a place, perhaps a city, and experience a view where human decoration completely obscures God’s creation. It’s not hard to sit down in my family room and spend the evening watching TV and never see a thing that comes from God……..and never see a thing that brings me closer to God.
More and more, the experience of our world is the experience of the human decoration. More and more, God’s contribution to our world is obscured, lost.
And so, I start my day, sitting in my back yard communing with God’s world. I start my day by returning to that part of my world that is closest to God…….closest to the undecorated tree. The power of that experience in shaping my day is immense.
I’m not kidding myself. I have been blessed beyond comprehension. And I am grateful. You may live in a place that is overwhelmed……..with “human decoration”……..or worse. You may have to work harder to find a place where you can experience God minus all of the decoration. But, you can find it. You can find a corner of your world where you can meditate on God……..a place where you can commune with God……free from all of the decoration.
Begin your day in that place. You’ll spend the rest of your day in a better world.
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
Jesus, John 14:6, ESV