ANSIR® Profile: Empath / Healer / Visionary
Boss: Healer

Christmas Hope

One of our family's greatest Christmas traditions is choosing and bringing home a live Christmas tree. Even before our two boys could walk (or swing an axe) we have gone to a nearby tree farm to select the perfect tree. When our children were small they would follow us as we tried to find just the perfect one. Upon finding the right size, shape and type, Dad would say, "Stand back while I cut the tree." After it was chopped down, Dad and the two boys would drag the tree up the hill and load it in the car.

Now, our "boys" aged twenty-five and twenty-two, have taken over the "axing" as they tell Dad, "Stand back." Our younger son likes to take bets on how many "whacks" it will take to fell the pine. Being a physical sort, he takes great pride in bringing the tree down in under ten chops. My older son keeps count and leads the cheering as the tree topples to the ground. Together, the two boys, alone, pull the tree up the hill as Dad and Mom follow and tie it onto the car; then, we gather in the A-frame house on top of the hill to sip coffee and hot chocolate with the families gathered there.

I hadn't really thought much about the meaning of our tradition until we made a recent trip to the state of Montana and its beautiful Glacier National Park. After traveling there by train, we rented a vehicle and took to the wilds of the Park. Its great, towering snow capped mountains with still, glass lakes were so moving. Who could not believe in a Creator with unmatched engineering creativity and handiwork?

As we drove to see Bowman Lake we passed through miles of forest burned by a fire in 1988. We had marvelled at the beauty of all we had seen but, suddenly, the stark reality of a fire that had damaged thousands of acres turned awe and inspiration into sadness and grief. "Unbelievable", I thought, and how ugly the charred stalks of trees that once stood strong and mighty. As I looked at the destruction, nearer to the ground, something caught my eye. A soft, green, and lush carpet was emerging and there they were, hundreds of small pine seedlings emerging anew to reclaim the forest for their own. They were standing straight, tall and proud. Reading a sign about the fire, I learned that underneath the first five inches of soil are years of seeds and kerneled life just waiting for the warm sun to awaken. Even the extreme heat of the fire cannot destroy this origin of new life. It seems that after the tragic destruction of a forest fire, both flora and fauna flourish and replenish the forest.

I will never again look upon our Christmas tree in the same way. It used to concern me that we cut it down and then sent it out for recycling as mulch after the holiday. I will now remember the hope and lessons those little seedlings have for all of us. In the face of charred destruction and, seemingly, the end of life, those tiny seedlings emerge ready to grow and stand in awesome strength against the "Big Sky" and snow-capped mountains. So, there stands our Christmas tree as a symbol of beginnings, endings and hope. Just like father relinquishes to sons and mighty forest gives way to tiny seedlings; so it is with life and it's circumstances and experiences. For every goodbye, destruction and change comes new hope and strength for something even better.

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