{"id":2654,"date":"2013-12-10T13:46:08","date_gmt":"2013-12-10T13:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=2654"},"modified":"2013-12-10T13:46:08","modified_gmt":"2013-12-10T13:46:08","slug":"oh-christmas-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=2654","title":{"rendered":"Oh, Christmas Tree!"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you were to come to my home you would see unusual trees. There are ornaments on 1\/3 of my large tree and none on the smaller one. They look incomplete. They look forgotten. They look sad.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But when I had the energy and desire to decorate them, I had three little ones around. My oldest granddaughter Joy loves to help decorate the tree. She places the ornaments on the tree with care and in \u201cjust-the-right-spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

However, her younger brother Percy hasn\u2019t got the hang of it. He didn\u2019t quite understand that an ornament hook was needed. Or that they should be hung on a branch, not thrown. Or that these delicate ornaments are fragile.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So when an ornament got broken, we decided the tree was decorated.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now picture this. There are ornaments on the middle third of the tree. High enough where Percy couldn\u2019t reach the most precious ones but not quite to the top\u2026only as high as Joy could reach on the small step stool.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s my \u201cCharlie Brown Christmas Tree\u201d year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The smaller tree is even worse. My daughter Candace put a few ornaments on it, but Percy and Leslieanna have managed to pull some of the strings of lights so they are drooping and Percy sat on one of the branches (I\u2019m not sure what he was doing or how he did it) so that it now droops to the floor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not one \u201cCharlie Brown Christmas Tree,\u201d but two.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I must also tell you, this is a memorable Christmas. I will remember this particular year because of what my trees look like. And for this Christmas, I wouldn\u2019t change anything.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Perhaps all those years ago on the first Christmas Day, Mary might have wanted things to be a bit different. As a young, first-time mother, she probably would have wanted to be where she was familiar with her surroundings. She would have wanted to be with her mother. She would have wanted to be near her family.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But she was off to Bethlehem for the census where Joseph\u2019s family originated. She was surrounded by Joseph\u2019s family, not her own. She was in an unfamiliar room where she gave birth to her first-born son, not her own. She was giving birth to a son, not her husband\u2019s child, but God\u2019s. Yes, I\u2019m almost certain she would have wanted to change a few things.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But she was obedient to God and allowed Him to take her where He wanted. I\u2019m sure Mary had other ideas when she spoke these words to the angel, \u201cI am the Lord\u2019s servant. May it be to me as you have said.\u201d <\/i>(Luke 1:38 \u2013 NIV) But she was obedient. And what a blessing she received because of her obedience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Through Mary, our world received the greatest gift from God. Not what the world expected or hoped for. A bit unusual for most, but exactly what God knew mankind needed. A tiny baby.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As you go through the hustle and bustle of your life today, take a moment to think of that precious gift given by God to our hurting world. Remember all that God did for you personally because of His great love for you. Think of what a difference Jesus has made in your life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"2013<\/a>Perhaps your life looks like the \u201cCharlie Brown Christmas Tree.\u201d A bit out of sorts, mismatched or unfinished. The good news is that Jesus can take what is unfinished and make it complete and whole and beautiful. All you need to do is say what Mary said. \u201cI\u2019m Yours. Do what you want with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to give you something today. An ornament. A gift from me to you to remind you of God\u2019s perfect gift to you. I pray that you will have a blessed Christmas season and that Jesus will be your focus over the next two weeks\u2026Merry Christmas!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Donna<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you were to come to my home you would see unusual trees. There are ornaments on 1\/3 of my large tree and none on the smaller one. They look incomplete. They look forgotten. They look sad.   But when I had the energy and desire to decorate them, I had three little ones around. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1533,816,1531,1534,1532],"class_list":["post-2654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-luke-138","tag-mary","tag-oh-christmas-tree","tag-ornaments","tag-unfinished"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2654"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2657,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2654\/revisions\/2657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}