The Most Beautiful Christmas Tree Ever: Choosing the perfect tree

But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree—some of the people of Israel—have been broken off. And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree.

—Romans 11:17

One of my favorite childhood memories is going on a Christmas tree hunt with Daddy. I remember how my siblings and I donned our winter gear, then traversed the farm, field and fountain, moor and mountain (okay, hill), in search of the perfect tree. The problem was we were searching in the wild, where it is nearly impossible to find a perfectly shaped tree. Time and time again, we’d come across one that at first glance looked perfect and full, but when we got up close and inspected all angles we saw how sparse it truly was. After too many repeat episodes of disappointing trees, Daddy decided to chop down two trees and put them back to back, hiding what was sparse and revealing what was full.

Back at the house, he tied the two together and situated them in a corner of the living room, then we got to work decorating our perfect imperfect tree.

Days later when my grandparents came for a Christmas visit, we invited them into the living room to see our tree. As they stood in admiration, Mom shared with them our story of pairing together the two trees.

Grandpa took a closer look. “That was a good idea,” he said, “but I hate to tell you—you chose two different types of trees. One is a cedar and the other a spruce.”

We all burst out laughing. But in spite of what seemed to be a misfit pairing, I thought our Christmas tree was perfect.

The story reminds me of Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans. In explaining salvation for the Gentiles, he uses the analogy of being grafted into Abraham’s tree, which represents the nation of Israel or God’s favored people. We may not be of Abraham’s bloodline, but because of the blood of Jesus, shed for all mankind, we have the opportunity to be grafted into God’s family tree.

When God inspects our lives, He sees that our righteousness is sparse, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). And because of our sin, we deserve death. Paul explains it in Romans 6:23a, “The wages of sin is death.”

But God had a plan. He sent His one and only Son Jesus as a gift. Jesus died in our place. When we confess our sins and open our hearts to Him as Lord and Savior, we receive God’s gift of eternal life, the greatest Christmas gift of all time (Romans 6:23b).

When we are paired with Jesus, all our imperfections are made perfect, and our lives, once sparse, are abundantly full.

Now when God inspects us, all He sees is Jesus.

Dear Daddy, thank You for Your magnificent plan of salvation for all misfits like me, for pairing me with Your Son to perfect all my imperfections, and including me in Your family tree, the most beautiful Christmas tree ever.

This beautiful nativity ornament was crafted in Bethlehem from the wood of an olive tree.