Christmas Tree

So…tomorrow is the big day. Tomorrow is the day we buy the Christmas tree. It always works the same way. We go to the same place and follow the same ritual. It goes like this: we drive into the car park of the garden centre and park as close as we can to the trees. We wander into the forest of trees and then split up and go in search of the perfect tree. The perfect tree has to be exactly the right height so it fits in the stand but doesn’t quite touch the ceiling. It has to be full, but symmetrical. It can’t have any stray branches that stick out. It can’t have any gaps anywhere. It has to have a trunk that is straight, because otherwise it will never look straight when we get it home. And there’s nothing worse than a wonky tree! After hours of comparing one tree with another and weighing strengths and weaknesses, a tree is chosen. It is wrapped, put in the car and taken into the garden. There, the trunk is trimmed so that it fits into it stand. It is brought into the house, to the place prepared for it, where it is decorated (but only by one of us). The final act of the Christmas tree ritual is to put the angel on the top. That’s my job! Well…some of that is true, but not all of it. Thing is, there is no such thing as the perfect Christmas tree! There really isn’t. They are wonderful and beautiful, but never perfect. At least not in the sense of symmetry and straightness! They all have their little quirks. And that’s a relief, because tomorrow we don’t have to find the perfect tree! We’ll find a beautiful tree that will looks lovely and fills the room with a sense that Christmas is here, but it won’t be perfect. And perhaps that’s the true message of Christmas: that just as there’s no such thing as the perfect Christmas tree, there’s no such thing as a perfect me, or a perfect you, or a perfect anyone. And that is precisely the reason Christmas happens at all: because no-one is perfect. The baby in a manger came to seek and save the lost, not the perfect. Which is good news since none of us are perfect. Whatever tree we buy tomorrow, it will be decorated with love and care and become part of the family for a while, with all it’s imperfections. Through the baby in a manger, Christmas invites us to be part of God’s family. And the good news is, we will be loved and welcomed with all our imperfections. We don’t have to be perfect. We just have to be as we are. I think me and my tree will get on just fine, both wonderful and beautiful, but not perfect!