Wednesday, November 30, 2016

                I usually wait until it is 18 degrees below zero and a howling snowstorm to put up my outdoor Christmas lights. But yesterday, I was feeling especially wimpy and used the nice weather to get the job done.

                There is a beautiful, pine tree in our front yard and I cover it with lights. That pine tree has a story.

                Over eleven years or so ago, my sister-in-law, Jennifer, handed out little, live pine trees to each member of our families on the occasion of the Neal’s 50^th wedding anniversary. It was barely a sprig, maybe 12 inches or so. I planted it in a large flower pot, knowing it wouldn’t last out of doors just yet. It was too small, too tender, and hardly had any roots. It came with us, pot and all, when we moved to Peterborough.

                By then, it had just sprouted it first, few, tiny branches. So, I risked planting it in our front yard. We actually had two small trees, although to call them trees was a bit of an exaggeration. One of them died over that first winter, but the second somehow managed to survive and even began to thrive.

                Now, it is over 8 feet tall, and its branches span over 6 feet. Last year, I could decorate it while standing on the ground. This year, I had to get a step ladder to reach the top of the tree.  It had, despite the drought this summer, put on over 2 feet of new tree. Next year, I am going to have to get a bigger ladder, more lights or change my Christmas decorating plans.

                Jesus said, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move…,” (Matthew 17:20). I have sometimes struggled with this metaphor when people I love and care about, be it in my church or in my own family, have struggled, seemingly vainly, with illnesses, hardships, setbacks, and death. Mountains are no easy things to move.

Jesus was too sophisticated in his theology and thinking to be so naïve that some magical dose of faith was by itself going to eradicate or fix what ails us. So, what might he have meant?

                I look at my pine tree. It started out very small, vulnerable, defenceless, susceptible to its environment, needed tending and a good dose of fertilizer every now and then.  It has survived through the vagaries of the weather including freezing rain, drought, wind, deep snow and anything else nature could throw at it. Now it stands tall, straight, sturdy, and strong.

                My point is that if one has even so much as a germ of faith it can be nurtured into a dynamic force of life.  As our faith grows and matures, it becomes our defence against the mountains in life. Our trust in Love, Grace, Justice, Hope, are the branches that spread from our faith.  It does not mean that we won’t face the elements of life or that we can snap our spiritual fingers and life’s droughts and winds dissipate. But it does mean that we have nurtured a spirit within, with God’s help and direction, which withstands, endures, prevails and overcomes. "Then I believe. Help me with my doubts!" (Mark 9:24, The Message)

                Have you got some little sapling growing in you? A sprout of love, a seedling of compassion, a sprig of kindness, a branch of forgiveness? Please, don’t let it die away. Encourage it to grow.  Cultivate its development. Provide nourishment for its progress.

                "Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over,” (John 12:24, The Message).

                You just might have to get your step-ladder out!

Dale