The Best Christmas Tree Series

S122301 The best Christmas tree Psalm 1:1

Beginning:

There is a story of the three trees growing side by side on a beautiful mountain. Each of the trees had great dreams of becoming very special. They wanted to be made into very beautiful and helpful things to bring glory to God.

One tree dreamed of becoming a finely crafted trunk with beautiful inlaid and carved images all over the top. The tree dreamed of golden handles, hinges and hasp so finely made they would shine in the sunlight so that everyone who saw the chest would exclaim of it’s beauty. The tree hoped the most skilled of all artisans in wood would be selected to cut, carve, size, sand and finish the box until it became the most beautiful chest in the entire world. The tree that wanted to be a beautiful box had the dream that if it could become this beautiful thing it would bring glory to God. Maybe people would see the trunk and something in it’s beauty would make them praise God.

The second tree dreamed of becoming a great ocean going vessel. The sound of wind in the sails, the ocean spray and roll of the ocean was the last dream this tree had each morning and the first dream at night. I could carry a well-trained and fit crew to ports of call in strange places with unusual sights, sounds, smells and accents. Taking people to distant places would make me the happiest tree on the mountain. I want to travel and see the beauty of the earth that God has made. I want to carry people to new places where they can tell those with no hope that one day the Messiah will come and He will save them from their sins. I want to be used by the Creator to tell everyone about His love.

The third tree had a dream also. It wanted to remain on the mountain and become the tallest tree in the world. The reason it wanted to be tall was so that it could point its branches upward toward the God who created it. This tree wanted to be a witness to the majesty of God. It hoped that when people looked at how tall and majestic it had become they would wonder at the beauty of the Creator and give Him glory for making such a fine tree.

Eventually the first tree was cut down. It was so excited because now the dream could come true and it would become the most beautiful box in the world. It was so sad when the sawing and the nailing were finished because it was not a beautiful box. It was an ugly cattle bunk. It would be used to hold cattle feed not precious jewels and artifacts. How could it ever give glory to God in a barn?

The second tree was harvested, but instead of being made into an ocean going vessel the ship builders instead turned it into a small, ugly, insignificant fishing boat for the Sea of Galilee. It would never see exotic ports of call. It would spend its life in the same dirty, smelly port with fisherman crawling in and out if it all its life. It would never become the vehicle that takes the message of the Messiah’s to the people of the world? How could it ever bring glory to God as a fishing boat?

The third tree stood longer on the mountain than the first two, but it did not get the complete wish. Eventually it was cut down and sawn into crude timbers. The third tree was devastated because it would not be able to point people to The Messiah. It was a failure.

One day in the barn fresh hay was placed in the ugly box and swaddling clothes were arranged to receive a baby. The box was amazed as shepherds, wise men and even angels proclaimed this baby was the Messiah. The box had not become what it dreamed. This was much better! Any tree could become a box, but this tree was fashioned into a manger bed in which the Messiah was laid. This tree received the highest honor that any tree had ever had. It made the first bed for the Baby Jesus.

The second tree, which had become a stinking fishing boat, was bobbing up and down in a monotonous manner. Droning waves lapped at it’s gunnels. Eventually men came and pushed the boat out from the shore. One man began to speak. His words were magic as the bounced off the water to hungry ears. He filled people with hope. This man spoke in a manner, and with authority, unprecedented in all of time. It was Jesus, and the tree that desired to be an ocean going vessel to take the message of God to the world now was the very platform God used for from which His Son spoke the words of the Father.