“Get the Hugest Pink Aluminum Tree”
December 24, 2010We all probably have certain traditions that we honor over the Christmas holiday, whether it be driving around neighborhoods to see the decorated houses or watching certain TV shows. I know I try to catch the Charlie Brown Christmas cartoon every year, and this year was no exception. Interestingly, no matter how many times I see the show, there is always something new that grabs my attention. This year, for some reason, I focused on Lucy telling Charlie Brown that he needed to “get the hugest pink aluminum tree you can find” for their Christmas play. I’m not sure why this jumped out at me. Could it have been because at the beginning of this Christmas season, I was walking out of a local bookstore with some friends and in the foyer was a huge, pink aluminum tree the likes of which I had never before seen. I thought it was rather ….well…an odd color for a Christmas tree.
Lucy’s request for a pink tree also grabbed my attention because Charlie Brown had said to her, as he sought her $.05 counseling advice, that his problem was Christmas and that he just didn’t understand it. Her solution was that he was to become involved and thus, direct the holiday play. Could the pink tree also be the balm for Charlie Brown’s Christmas doldrums?
While the pink aluminum tree may seem somewhat odd to me, what is not odd is that many of us, like Charlie Brown, just don’t understand Christmas. Could it be that we don’t understand the most powerful tree and the hugest gift ever given? Acts 5:30-31 reads, “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour, to give …forgiveness of sins.” All of us have said things, done things, thought things that are wrong and, in essence, have sinned. But Christ came and hanged on a tree for the forgiveness of our sins. It wasn’t a pink tree, or an aluminum one for that matter. It was a real tree and a real life that was sacrificed for us so that we may be forgiven and live eternally with Him in heaven. “….this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.” Hebrews 7:27.
Merry true Christmas to you and yours!
Sheryl for Cammy, too, who went home to Mississippi for Christmas!
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6