The Grace Tree
WORDS FROM W.W. November 5, 2015
In our front yard there is a tree that could have played the part of the Christmas tree in “Charlie Brown’s Christmas.” If there was ever a homely looking tree it is our front yard pine tree. People look at it and shake their head in pity.
Over the years I’ve thought about plant euthanasia. Every week I mow around the warped branches I get a vision of a chain saw and a chipper.
But I’ve held off on what most others would say is the expected. Each year of the sixteen years we’ve lived in our home I’ve thought that the tree would straighten out its ways…but it hasn’t. Each year resonates with hope for some resemblance to a tree in a painting, but it keeps looking like tree that has had a stroke.
I call it my “Grace Tree.” Every time I look at it I think of grace. It gives me the opportunity to extend grace when chopping is the logical solution.
Each one of us needs a “Grace Tree” in our life…an illogical decision that goes against what the textbook says.
I see myself in that tree! God has the axe and he decides to put it down and pour a pitcher of water into the soil instead. He decides to nurture and love instead of chop down and mow over. Grace sees the beauty where there is no attractiveness. God sees my warts and calls them marks of maturity.
My neighbors stare at my Grace Tree with hope that I will come to my senses. It looks more like Jack’s beanstalk that rises to the sky, but no width in its branches. But I hold off! My grace tree is a theological statement to me personally every time I look at it.
This is the grace of God for me!
Explore posts in the same categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Christmas, Grace, Humor, Jesus, love, Pastor, Story, UncategorizedTags: attractiveness, beauty, Charlie Brown, God's grace, grace, homeliness, pine tree, ugly
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
Words from WW Blog 
Leave a Reply