There is a Christmas tree in my living room. It’s not a real tree, though I do love the smell of a fir.

We have lights on our tree and there are ornaments on it. Some of the ornaments are the baby pictures of me, my wife, children and grandchildren.

I’ve said previously that the lights remind me of the twinkling stars that shine in the night.

But is my tree a pagan symbol?
Many think so!

For the customs of the peoples are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple. Jer 10:3-4

This was not a Christmas tree in Jeremiah. Christ had not come. Were they worshipping the tree?
It’s likely. They also cut wood and stone and made little statues to worship.

I’ve cut wood and have made things but never worshipped them. Neither do I worship the Christmas tree.

What I am reminded of is that a tree got us in trouble and a tree got us out of trouble.

It was a tree that Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat it’s fruit. They did. It was called sin and it has affected everyone.

It was another tree that was cut down, put in the shape of a cross, and upon it was nailed the Son of God.
This act on the second tree took away the reproach of the first.

I often think how cruel people can be with what God had created; and I often wonder what kind of tree became the wood of the cross.

I think of how the Bible says,

The trees of the woods shall rejoice before the Lord, 1 Chron 16:33

What a joy that the trees rejoice before the Lord. I rejoice before the Lord too!

Abba, all of Your creation is beautiful to me. I love the change of leaves in Autumn and I love the budding of green in Spring. I love the beauty of snow (or ice) on the pines around my home. I rejoice in your creation, in Jesus name, YES&AMEN