A tree grew

We've never done the whole cut-your-own Christmas tree thing before. I usually go to the store, throw a rope-wrapped one in the trunk and bring it home.

But some friends invited us to go get a tree today and it was something else altogether. 

It was beautiful.

The day was warm and the sky blue. We squelched through patches of snow and half-frozen grass until we came to the Christmas trees. 

The kids were positive they'd found just the right one about a dozen times, until we found the real right one. 

A quick pass of the saw and it was ours.

                      (sooooo tall!)

At bedtime, Kachi thanked God for keeping the tree for us. Yeah. It was cool to think that for the past ten years, a tree was growing on its way to us. We didn't know it was coming home with us. It wasn't planted with us in mind. But God knew. 

And now it's lit up and dressed in treasures, right at the centre of our family's Christmas celebrations.

And it makes me think about all the things that are growing, the little seeds planted and already unfurling tiny roots, that will come our way. 

Even some that have already come our way.

Surprises. Heartbreak. Friendship. Loss. True love. Struggles. Joys. Pain. Peace.

All of these and more ... 

God knows.

Not one of them escapes his notice.

The aches and the agonies as well as the blessings and beauty - they all grow in His soil and come to us in His time.

The tree that was used to make the manger - God knew.

The tree that was used to make the cross - God knew.

And I don't know what trees are in front of you right now, trees that look like blessings or agonies, but I know this: out of the manger came the Saviour, and out of the cross came Salvation. That tree, which looked like agony became the blessing.

In Jesus, our agonies are not less - they are not less - but out of suffering, He brings life-giving blessing.

May your trees flame with hope, my friends, at Christmas.

Xo.