Showing results for "The Tree" in Spiritual Growth

Sometimes we describe ourselves as trees. When we're thriving, we speak of being rooted and fruitful, in a good season. When we struggle, we might describe ourselves as withering, cut off from friendship and the world. These ways of describing ourselves matter because they shape the ways we live. But in a world dominated by efficiency, we have begun to use more unforgiving metaphors. We speak of ourselves as computers: we process things, we recharge. In doing so, we come to expect of ourselves an exhausting, relentless productivity.

The nurturing of a devoted parent, the kindness of a closest friend, and the loving heart of an often-misunderstood Father...all were the things Elijah, the greatest prophet of the Old Testament, found in his weakest moment when lying under a broom tree. Though he'd performed extraordinary miracles and offered faith-filled prayers, anxiety and depression drove him to a place where he asked God to end his life. Elijah's story was much like our own because he was an ordinary person, just like you and me.

In this real-life Christmas fable, when a Dad decides to let his kids select the family Christmas tree, he gets an unexpected lesson about God's love. In this thoroughly contemporary holiday story, a father lets his children choose the family Christmas tree. To his surprise, the kids pick one...