Frayed Ornaments

December 21, 2022

We haven’t bought any Christmas tree ornaments lately. Over the years we’ve continually added a few here and there, and have also received ornaments as gifts. Since Joy and I have been married since 1975, our ornaments number in the hundreds.

For our very first Christmas we bought a live tree from the lot next to our local bank. It was about six feet tall, and a bit sparse. That was enough for our couple dozen ornaments. The tree topper we bought was an angel made of paper and tinsel, beautiful in our eyes.

We still have that tree topper, and we still think she’s beautiful. On a good day we could probably tell you where most of the ornaments on our tree came from. The assorted articles are old friends. They are all precious to us, but we no longer can fit them all on the tree.

But wouldn’t new be better? Aren’t there a lot of worn-looking ornaments on the tree?

The tree is only three years old. We used to always have a fresh tree from the Christmas tree farm. At some point we decided an artificial tree, with LIGHTS ALREADY STRUNG, would be a lot more convenient.

Not everything new is better. Convenience can be deceptive.

Fast foods are not near as healthy as a meal made from scratch. Toaster pastries make a poor breakfast.

Families sitting down together for an evening meal takes extra effort, but the bonding is irreplaceable.

Working together at a place of employment, in person, strengthens a company’s sense of teamwork and unity, something that dozens of people working from home cannot replicate.

Living by Biblical standards can seem inconvenient, out of style, even like going against the grain.

Don’t let the best get thrown away in a quest for what is convenient and new.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10