A Noble Fir Parable

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. – Psalm 19:1

This is the story of the Blonski family Christmas Tree 2006.

Up to that time my family and I have been going to a Christmas tree farm and cutting down a fresh Christmas tree – usually a Douglas Fir or a Noble Fir.

That year, we were spending our first Christmas in Southern California. After doing some Internet searching, we could only find Christmas tree farms that offered trees like a Monterey Pine to cut down. Firs are grown in Oregon or Washington State and are cut and shipped to the farms and lots around Southern California.

We loaded up the family van with, well, family, and went off to one of the farms in the area. When we got there, we beheld a sight of hundreds of Monterey Pine Christmas trees. And while there was a distinct smell of freshness in the air, it didn’t really smell like a Fir does – and thus, to me, it didn’t smell like Christmas.

Then we found out that these trees were available to cut fresh, however we were not to do the cutting, the employees at the farm would cut the tree we pointed out.

After a serious discussion about this, we decided that we would forgo the cutting of the tree this year. We just didn’t like the look of the trees there. So we ended up at a “lot” establishment. It was just about sunset. Christmas music was blaring out of the loudspeaker. Bright white lights lit up the hundred or so Noble Firs on the lot. All pre-cut – it was claimed - a couple of days ago and shipped on the back of truck here.

We found a nice little tree about five feet tall. It looked and smelled wonderful. We took it home, set it up and decorated it. We had Christmas music on. We had family around. We reminisced about Christmases past as we put up each ornament – one for each year of my wife and I’s marriage.

It was much later, after the kids went to bed. I was sitting in my chair, listening to Christmas music on the stereo. The lights from the tree providing a soft, mellow glow, when I noticed it.

There, at the top of our small but beautiful Christmas tree, was one lonely branch standing straight up. And it was in the shape of a cross.

That little tree reminded me of just what it is that we are anticipating celebrating in five months.

Christmas is about the birth of the Savior who would one day die for the sins of the world. While this tree doesn’t really tell the story of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – because you can only find that story in God’s Holy Word as special revelation – it does point to the story. It is a beautiful, Noble Fir of a parable. No star on top. No angel. Just a simple little wooden cross that reminds me that Christ was born to die to forgive my sins and give me eternal life.

Ó 2006 True Men Ministries, Inc.