Outward Appearances

I enjoy seeing our Christmas tree.
I am the first one downstairs in the morning.
I go right over to the tree and turn on the lights.

There is something about the ambiance of the room when a Christmas tree is lit.
The soft glow…the smell of pine.
I could linger there all morning.

When we decorated the tree this year, it was a busy evening.
We were getting ready for friends to come the next day.
Baking…setting the table…preparing the house.
My older girls decorated most of the tree.

Listening to them, while I was in the kitchen with my youngest daughter, was so sweet.
I could hear them laughing…telling the stories…remembering.
I could guess in my imagination exactly which ornament they had just found.
They each have their favorites and our tree is a witness to that.
Their favorites tend to be in the front of the tree!

When they were in preschool, various hand made presents came home with them.
Reindeer placemats…the face of the reindeer was the shape of their foot…at that time.
The antlers were their left and right hands.
The children could decorate them any way they wanted, which is priceless to me.
To see my boys’ tiny hands…looking like antlers…
Now they each wear size 12 shoes!

There was a thumbprint Rudolph…a wooden paint stick snowman.
Wonderful glimpses of my children…who they were then…who they are now!

I heard my daughter, who teaches second grade, lament that none of her handmade ornaments were on the tree.
For some reason, they seemed to have disappeared.
Not by choice, however.

There was one…a macaroni angel…placed in the bottom of the ornament bin.
We found it last Christmas.
Finally…something she remembered making for me.
All at once, as she held it up, it dropped on the hardwood floors.
The macaroni angel…we USED to have!

Whether hand made or not, those ornaments tell the story of our family through the years.

I found an ornament at a consignment sale years ago.
It was a wooden, Victorian doll.
There is a pull string, that when pulled, lifts up her arms like a marionette.
For some reason, I liked her…she was different…she looked old-fashioned.
She went on the tree…in the front!

Year after year, my girls commented about how much they didn’t like that doll.
Year after year, she would go further back on the tree.

This year, I noticed, she was not on the tree at all.
Someone gave me a new ornament as a gift.
When I went to hang it on the tree, I realized that the hooks were packed away in the attic.
I went up to retrieve them and saw my doll in the ornament bin.
Guess where she is now?

My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say,”Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him? (James 2:1-5)

We do the same thing with people.
We make assessments in our mind based on what we see.
Often, we are terribly wrong!
Often, there is so much more than meets the eye!

I am so grateful that God does not make assessments based on what He sees.

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

We cannot possibly see what the Lord sees.
He is the Creator after all.
He sees and knows the splendid nuances about a person.
We could not begin to know.

Just like my wooden doll on the tree…she may not look good…but she is mine!

Can’t you hear God saying the same thing about us?
We have our days when we don’t look too good.
We are tired, weary, discouraged…we wear our emotions on our face.

God, our Father, looks at us and says, “Aren’t they beautiful? Beautiful and MINE!”

To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor. (Isaiah 61:3)

 

 

2 responses to “Outward Appearances”

1. Beautifully said! I needed to remember this today.. thank you! 🙂

   Reply

   • Melissa,
     You are welcome.
     I need to remember this, too!
     Gina

     Reply