Have you ever heard the Christmas song: “O Christmas Tree?” If so, please sing the tune with the lyrics below:

“O Christmas Tree
Your branches are so dusty
Not cleaned, they are so heavy.”

Yep, I’m going to be talking my very dusty Christmas tree today.

If you read my last article: “New-Fangled,” then you know I now keep a Christmas tree downstairs in the basement. I moved the bigger tree down to the basement. Tim and I like to hang out there, so we would seeing that tree as well. I bought one a few years ago from the K-mart in Halls. Not only was it the last one they had, but it was also on sale. Since they didn’t have the box, they loaded it into the back of Tim’s truck as it was. This also included the ornaments on it. Unloading it was not as easy as it sounds. We had to reach through the limbs to the center pole.

When we put it up downstairs, I decided to leave the tree up all year. After all, it was out of the way in a corner and we were the only ones to be downstairs. I would take off the ornaments each year and reapply them the next. That way it would alway be different. That worked until we got busy. Or maybe I should say busier. Since I only plugged the lights on it during the Christmas season, I decided to leave the ornament up as well.

Are you beginning to think that I didn’t clean downstairs because of my dust-laden tree. Actually, except for the tree, I did clean there. Since we had it back in a corner and, I really didn’t pay much attention to it. At Christmas I plugged it in, but I didn’t really look at it. Then one fateful day, I happened to notice it. My first thought was that something didn’t look right. So I walked up close to it. That’s when I had the dusty realization. Bear with me here. Have you ever seen pictures of Mars that show it’s polar ice cap? Well that was my first impression when I looked at my ornaments with their gray dust caps. Also, the dark blue garland I had placed around it was now purple. I had so shirked my Christmas tree duty.

I grabbed my glass cleaner and paper towels. As I took each decoration off, I gave it a good clean and laid it on an old blanket. As for the garland, Tim had to tear it in a few places to pull it out of the tree. I felt so guilty at first, but when I redecorated it, the tree was the prettiest it has ever been.

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Psalm 5:17 (KJV)
Nobody or nothing can clean us like Jesus can. Personally, I think that is what gives us real beauty.

“And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God.” Mark 12:24 (KJV)

My Mamaw Jo always said: “ A dusty bible leads to a dirty life.” It makes sense. Bibles become dusty when we don’t open and read them. If you don’t know The Lord’s words, then you aren’t connected to His power.

So, let’s tweak those lyrics one more time.

“O Christmas tree

Brooke got you so pretty and clean
Now you are ready to be seen”

Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.