How lovely are your branches......
Wait a minute! That's not how the song goes, is it?
But on Tuesday, that was the song I was singing!
Maybe it's a sign that I spend too much time on Pinterest, but when I began thinking about what appetizer I could take to our Life Group Christmas Dinner, the appetizer tree I had seen there seemed a perfect solution. And also a perfect way to use up the leftover pickles and olives from our family Thanksgiving dinner.
This photo was my inspiration:
My pickle tree, which was rather hurriedly assembled, did not look nearly so perfect. I wish I had thought to take a picture of my tree, as I was rather pleased with it in spite of its imperfections.
What we really needed a photo/video of was getting that pickle tree from my kitchen to the church dining hall. After we had loaded the car with all the other things we were needing for the party, Cathy (my un-biological sister - more on that another day) drove while I very carefully held the pickle tree. We were thinking it quite likely that the next day's newspaper headline might read "Coroner Called to the Scene: Woman Impaled By Pickle Tree"! Thankfully, we and the pickle tree arrived at the church safely!
After all that, I should have thought to include O Pickle Tree, O Pickle Tree....oops, I mean O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree....in our after-dinner carol sing. But it didn't even occur to me until after the fact.
Trees have been a part of our Christmas celebrations for hundreds of years. Historians tell us that trees, typically not made from pickles, were first part of Christmas as much as a thousand years ago. The first person to bring a Christmas tree into a house, in the way we know it today, may have been Martin Luther in the 16th century. Tradition says that one night before Christmas, he was walking through the forest and looked up to see the stars shining through the tree branches. He thought it was so beautiful that he went home and told his children what he had seen and that it reminded him of Jesus, who left the stars of heaven to come to earth at Christmas.
Decorated trees have become an important part of our Christmases. Typically these trees, whether real trees or artificial ones, are of the evergreen variety. We decorate them with lights, whether white or colored, twinkling or not. We hang ornaments, whether they are handmade or store-bought, elaborate or very simple. But the important feature is that the tree is an evergreen. It is an evergreen to remind us of the everlasting love the Father has for us.
It was His love for us that caused Him to send Jesus. So this Christmas, when you look at your tree, think about that. Whether it is a real tree or an artificial tree. Whether it is spruce or pine or fir or a Charlie Brown tree. Whether it is on a table-top or it reaches from floor to ceiling. Even if it's a pickle tree!
Let that tree remind you how deep the Father's love is for you. Let it remind you that His love is an everlasting love. Let it remind you that He expressed His love for you in the Gift of Jesus.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16 KJV)
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