fake trees covered in sparkly things

Last night Jayne asked me to come over and help her put up some Christmas decorations. Now, that doesn't sound like something anyone would ask of me, given my limited range of motion and strength, but I think she wanted companionship more than anything, which is something I can provide. It's just not any fun decorating for Christmas alone, is it?

I did help drag the fake Christmas tree in from the garage, and after she pieced it together I helped "fluff" out the branches so it wouldn't look so... fake? This was a stretch for me, as I've been spoiled by my family's tradition of having real trees every year. At any rate, it didn't look too bad, it just needed some... sparkle! So on went the twinkling white lights, that I held in a bundle in my lap as Jayne strung them around. Jayne has these cool silver-sparkly boughs that she put in the bare spots to fill the branches out more, and it looked like there was frost or snow all over the tree. Then she had sparkly red bunches of cranberries and ribbons that she filled in the remaining empty spots. I sat back and directed her where to put things, because sometimes it is easier to see clearly from a distance where you have the big picture.

I wanted to listen to Christmas music to get in the mood, and Jayne wanted to listen to African worship music, as she usually does... so our compromise was the album Rose of Bethlehem, by Selah, which I hadn't heard before but it was absolutely beautiful. I waltzed with myself to their rendition of "What Child is This?" and spun and twirled to "O Holy Night." With the main lights off, the glow and twinkle of the tree was so enchanting, and the room felt so full of peace and joy. I really love one song on the album I'd never heard before, called "Mystery":

"The child was born on Christmas Day, Born to save the world
But long before the world began, He knew His death was sure
The pain and strife secured...
The Christmas trees They glow so bright With presents all around
But Christmas brought A tree of life With blood that sacrificed
The greatest gift in life...

Mystery, how He came to be a man
But greater still how His death was in His plan
God predestined that His Son would die
And He still created man
Oh, what love is this
That His death was in His hands..."

I was sitting still during this song, quietly praying and listening and admiring the tree, and it made me see some great symbolism and a powerful message that our Christmas tree proclaims...

"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." -Isaiah 1:18.

And how is this possible? Because the only one who was pure - the Spotless Lamb of God - shed his blood for us and took on our crimson sin, "so that we might become the righteousness of Christ."