ForgottenWoman

…Smile with me as I try to make this fun.

My love for Christmas and all of the decorations makes my dislike for when it’s over very real. In fact, last year my children gave me a shirt that said, ’Most likely to cry when Christmas is over!’ But… as with all things in life, whether we like it or not; we must do what we must do. 

Today, that meant dismantling and removing my real tree from my den. YIKES! If you know me well then you know that I have a tendency to try to make things that aren’t supposed to be fun; enjoyable. My kids and grandkids are very familiar with the “quick picks” where I set a timer for 5-10 minutes and everyone runs as quickly as they can and cleans. (I’m not sure they ever thought that was fun; but I tried!) For myself, I set my own timers and try to beat my time when deep cleaning a room, cleaning a bathroom or washing dishes, etc. It’s one of my quirks. So, today while taking all of the beautiful ornaments off of the tree I was trying to think of something to make it more enjoyable. 

I thought maybe there was some great spiritual application I could make and consider… but the only thing I could come up with was that as we age (or as the tree ages) things droop and fall off! All of the beautiful limbs were drooping and ornaments and needles were dropping faster than I could pick them up. I did laugh as I thought how true that is with us as humans as well. As we age, things begin to droop and while I hope they don’t fall off; they do often begin to hang limply and don’t do their job quite so well. :)  Not very spiritual but it did entertain me for a while. Then I began to take the lights off – and as I unplugged them and the beauty of the lights was gone I did think about the fact that they lost their beauty when they lost their power! Now, I CAN make a spiritual application for myself here. When I’m not plugged into the power of the life-giver: Jesus: I have NO light. All of my good deeds are as filthy rags in my own strength and power. My mind kept going. As I wound up the lights and put them safely into the boxes, I realized that they will be disconnected from the power source for a year – and when I plug them back in next year; some of them inevitably are not going to work. They are going to be damaged or just plain ruined from being wrapped up and tucked away for so long. You and I can walk away or ignore our power source for long periods of time. When we plug back in; He will bring life and light back into our lives; but there will be damage done during our time away. YAY! I was able to think my way through the dismantling and taking down of my tree…

Oh, but there’s more. Y’all know what else I noticed? As I pulled ornaments and lights off of this tree the beautiful fragrance was not only present but made even stronger. The beauty of the tree has dimished with age, but the fragrance remains and was even enhanced because the essence of the kind of tree that it is remains – even while it’s dying. As I age, I want the sweet fragrance of a life rooted and grounded in Christ to be very real in my life. Now, this lesson I can sit and think on! 

Now, to vacuum up all of the remnants – and enjoy the frangrance for a little longer.