Leaning Trees

…lean not on your own understanding ~ Proverbs 3:5 NIV

We received this amazing gift for Christmas: a Christmas tree.  Maybe it seems silly to you, but two years ago, when Savannah was 5 months old, our Christmas tree died.  Well, we assumed we’d just buy a new one the following Christmas.  But Brad had just barely started working that following Christmas, so we couldn’t afford one.  We did our best to decorate using our other decorations, but it just seemed empty without the tree.  This year, we really wanted a tree, but they were out of our budget.  At my Mom’s group, our leader asked if everyone was ready for Christmas and I just started to cry.  I told the other moms that we couldn’t afford a tree and I knew it was just material and no, that’s not what Christmas was all about, but it just didn’t feel like Christmas.  So my leader looked at me and said, “Then we’ll pray and ask God to send you a tree.”  I told her it was silly, but she insisted that we pray for God to send me a tree.  Later that day, my leader called me and said someone was getting rid of a Christmas tree & would I still like it.  I said yes and the next day she delivered a 7.5’ beautiful Christmas tree.  The tree is perfect, even as it leans. 

To some, my leaning tree may seem like an annoying defect, but I view it as beautiful.  Our pastor said something the other day that reminded me of my leaning tree.  He said that no one ever came to Christ by attending church, but by leaning in to God and the Holy Spirit, by leaning in as they saw others doing.  The NIV version of Proverbs 3:5 says we should not lean on what we know, perceive, or understand.  The AMP version tells us what we should lean on:  “Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind…”  Just like my Christmas tree leans in order to stand, we need to be leaning trees: leaning on the insight of the Holy Spirit so that we will be able to stand.

Father, thank you for Christmas trees, for beautiful decorations that remind us of Your light and beauty.  Lord, I pray that we would be leaning trees, leaning in to Your Spirit to hear all that You have to say to us.  In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.

©Heather Potts 2014