“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–kept in heaven for you…” 1 Peter 1:3-4

Well… Christmas sacrilege has been committed in my own house. The temptation, easily held at bay in years, became greater and our resistance waned with age. This year… like the proverbial tree before the ax… we fell! But I must confess… I like it!

My mother would be turning over in her grave about now. But she was cremated so that is not possible! The decision to have a REAL Christmas tree instead of an artificial one, was ingrained in me by mom from birth. Through 42 years of marriage, my wife sang the same tune! That is until a few weeks ago when we received a “50% off artificial Christmas trees” flier from Lowes. The urge to ‘sin’ hit Katie and I at the same precise moment! “What is the harm in just LOOKING!???” we thought.

I’d normally feel bad after confessing such failure. But the evidence of our choice stands tall and proud in our living room! And it is BEEEEUUUUTEEEFULLLL! The shape and look are simply perfect. Now all I need to do is ‘justify’ my actions. So here goes! The way I see it, it all boiled down to myth, mess and money!

The 7 last words of a church are, “we never did it that way before!” Which in the light of progress… means absolutely nothin’! Traditions are often just myths repeated over and over and can actually impede progress! Dead pine needles are simply a mess that I tire of dealing with. And the money I will save over the years to come makes me SMILE! I guess you could say that, because of experience, I have now become a cheerleader for the other side!

‘Hope’ is the emphasis of this Advent week. This Bible verse CLEARLY shows that it is NOT a FAKE Hope, but VERY VERY REAL! I have to confess that far too often I fall into the pit of the fake, dead, traditional hope. Struggling through life’s problems with an, “it’ll all be better when I get to Heaven” attitude is FAKE Faith! This verse tell me is it a “LIVING HOPE” for the NOW! Not later! And it can NEVER EVER SPOIL OR FADE AWAY! Which is EXACTLY what live Christmas trees do! All over the floor!

When a real tree is cut down, it is dead! Dying produces costly messes that MUST be dealt with. Jesus Christ died, then arose, to deal with ALL of my messes. He now LIVES to give me hope and abundant life, If I will simply drop my dead fleshy way of thinking and yield to His promises. I KNOW Him! I KNOW He works! And though I once was lost in stinking thinking, There is nothing FAKE about HIM or His Hope! He will shine forever!

Now I just hope I can get all of that blessing back in the box!!