Real or Fake

Every year I wonder if this will be the year.
Every year I make a mental note of our Christmas decorations.
I set them up in my mind.
I see the house decorated before one thing is taken out of the bins.

It is my favorite time of the year.
The holiday season from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day.
I am like a child when it comes to this time of year.
I anticipate decorating with great joy.

All the Christmas decorations have to wait until after Thanksgiving.
The day after Thanksgiving to be exact.
Christmas music is playing loudly and we get to work.
We all do our part to make the house look festive and welcoming.

When I was a little girl, we had an artificial Christmas tree.
I remember the glass Christmas balls that I tended to break with my little girl hands.
I never questioned having a real tree versus an artificial tree.
That is until I got older.

When my  husband and I were engaged, I told him how I felt.
Having an October wedding, Christmas was right around the corner.
Can we have a real tree? I asked him.
Of course we can; I will make sure that you have your first real Christmas tree, he promised.

I was a girl again in my excitement.
We went to a Christmas tree farm and I chose the tree I wanted.
He cut it down for me.
We tied it to the roof of the car and brought it back to our apartment.

The smell was wonderful.
The shape was perfect.
The tree even had some twigs deep in the center.
It was remnants of a bird’s nest and it made my heart sing.

Through the years, it was never questioned.
We would get a live Christmas tree.
We always got the tree the first weekend of December.
We kept it up until New Year’s Day.

Recently, I found myself wondering if an artificial tree would be better.
It wouldn’t have to be watered every day.
It wouldn’t drop needles all over the floor.
It could be up longer instead of the customary four weeks.

I went to a Flower Marketplace that I enjoy going to a few times a year.
Their Christmas decorations are so unique.
Someone told me that they had realistic artificial trees.
I walked back to that department.

There were probably thirty trees to choose from.
Some were nine feet tall.
Some were seven and a half feet tall, which is the size we usually choose.
I was looking for a tree that looked like the kind we usually get.

I found one.
I took a picture of it with my phone.
I zoomed in and took a picture of the tag on the tree with the number and the price.
As I checked out with the few things I purchased that day, I saw the flyer.

Christmas Open House.
Everything 30-50% off, including Christmas trees.
I came home and talked to my husband.
I showed him the picture of the tree that was on my phone.

Are you sure you’re going to like it? he asked knowing me so well.
Just think, we can have the tree up longer, we don’t have to water it…
I listened to myself convincing him but really convincing me.
Then I realize that the sale was only two days and both of those days I was busy.

I decided to call the store.
I asked them if they would honor the sale a day early.
The manager called me back a few hours later.
We will honor the sale; the tree will be 40% off, she graciously said.

I sent my husband a text telling him what I planned to do.
He responded with, OK, and a thumbs up emoji.
After my errands, I drove back to the Flower Marketplace.
I didn’t stop at the customer service desk but went straight back to the trees.

There it was.
The one that looked most like the kind of tree we always buy.
There it was with its LED white lights wrapped around the branches.
There it was, but my heart didn’t sing.

My heart that sang when my husband bought me my first live Christmas tree was not singing.
I looked inside the branches towards the middle of the tree.
I saw a sea of wires with directions about which section to plug into which section.
I saw a trunk that was supposed to look real but instead was covered with fake bark.

I walked away.
I went to another section and looked back at the tree.
It was fine as artificial trees go.
But my heart was not singing.

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is at all possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”  says the Lord. On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.
(Romans 12:9-21)

Real Christians.
Fake Christians.
People may be fooled.
God knows the difference.

God spells out clearly in His Word the marks of a true Christian.
None of us follow God’s Word perfectly.
However, if we are a true believer, we are being sanctified.
We are being made holy and made more like Jesus.

If we are a true Christian, we will sin but we will not continue in our sin.
There will be conviction.
There will be repentance.
There will be a change in values.

If we are a fake Christian, we will be found out.
God peers deep inside towards the center of our soul.
God sees the man-made directions; He sees the wires we use to try to hold it all together.
We may look real from a distance but upon close inspection we fail the test.

None of us are beyond the grasp of God.
None of us are too far gone to be saved.
We are all broken and artificial and held together with wires of our own making.
You can decorate us and dress us up but at the end of the day, we are still fake.

Come to Jesus.
You will be watered each day by His Word.
You will be attached to Him, the Vine, so that you flourish.
You will be more real than you have ever been.

Real in Christ.
Authentic Christianity.
Your life will be centered on the true Branch.
You will be genuine, fragrant, and alive in Him.