I love decorating our beautiful Christmas tree for the holiday season. Before I developed allergies, we would search high and low for the perfect grand fir; a perfect cone shape with the perfect branch at the top to hold our perfect angel. We would decorate the tree with my mother’s crystal ornaments and hundreds of twinkly white lights.
One particular year, the activities of the season seemed to overtake us and we ended up going to a local home improvement store where we settled for a premium Douglas fir, which cost us only $10. That price will speak to my accountant husband’s heart every time! We threw the tree in the back of our SUV and hurriedly brought it into the house, got it in the tree stand, lightly flocked it and let it sit for a couple of hours. Now the time came to pull the ornament boxes out and trim our cheap tree.
As I began to put those precious ornaments on each branch, I realized that it didn’t matter what the cost of the tree was. The beauty came from the sentimental treasures I placed on it. The weaker branches of this type of tree seemed to disappear between the sparkly crystal stars, cones, and twinkly bulbs. When we finished decorating our tree by placing the angel on the top, we stood back and admired the beauty of our find. It would bring us many hours of pleasure throughout the rest of the holidays. We were grateful for what we saw before us.
This less-than-perfect tree reminded me of how imperfect we are as human beings. We have many flaws, some that show and some that do not. We try to hide those things that would cause others to think less of us. Just like the ornaments and lights on a Christmas tree, when we decorate ourselves with the character of God, it will take the attention away from the flaws and impurities in our life. When we place His grace, mercy, faithfulness, forgiveness, unconditional love and His joy in every area of our life, those around us will see HIM more that they see us. As the verse in John 3:30 says, “I must decrease so He can increase.”
Read Galatians 5:22-26 When you look at the different elements of the fruit of the Spirit in this passage, take a moment to inventory the “ornaments” of your life.
Next Christmas, when you are admiring your tree, consider how many ornaments of God are decorating your life. What do others see of God in you?
FROM “VISIONS OF Him…Seeing God In Everyday Things” by Robyn Besemann
You can purchase this newly released devotional book at robynbministries.com/store