There is a folk
story that I once heard. I think that it
has been retold and edited over the years.
The story is about three trees that grew on a mountain overlooking a village. The first wished that one day it would be
made into a treasure chest. It would be
a finely crafted chest, decorated with gold and jewels. Inside it would hold the most expensive
treasures the world had ever seen. The
second tree wished to be made into a large ship. This grand ship would sail the mighty oceans
and travel to distant lands. It would
carry kings and queens and other royalty to wherever they wished to go. The third tree, however, did not wish to be
made into anything. It simply wanted to
continue to grow on the top of the mountain.
It wanted to grow straight and tall until it became the tallest tree in
the land. When people would look at the
tree, they would see that it pointed directly to Heaven and to God and they
would marvel at what God had done.
Many years
past and the trees continued to grow straight and tall on the mountain
top. One day, three men came up the
mountain and chopped the three trees down.
The first tree was taken to a carpenter.
It thought that it would finally be made into the finely crafted
treasure chest that it had dreamed about.
Instead, the carpenter fashioned its wood into a simple feeding
trough. It was taken to a barn and filled
with straw. Various farm animals would
come and eat from it. The second tree
was taken to a shipbuilder. The tree
thought that it would be made into the grand ship that it had dreamed
about. Instead, the shipbuilder made its
wood into a simple fishing boat. The boat
was taken to a lake and its only passengers were fishermen and piles of fish.
The third tree was deeply saddened that it had been cut down and could not
continue to grow as it had dreamed. It
was made into large timbers and were stacked in a storage room and left there.
More years
past, and the three trees had nearly forgotten about their dreams. One evening, a man and his young wife showed
up at the barn. It was really nothing
more than a cave. They had nowhere else
to stay. The woman gave birth to a son,
and with no crib available, she laid him in the trough made from the first
tree. As night fell, the light from a
single star shown on the manger. The
first tree realized it was holding the greatest treasure the world had ever
known.
Many years
later, a man and his twelve friends came to the lake and got into the boat made
from the second tree. As they crossed
the lake the man fell asleep. Soon a
storm began to rage on the lake. The boat
was tossed and jostled by the fierce waves.
The second tree knew that it had not been made to handle such bad weather
and that it would soon sink. Just then
the man awoke and rebuked the storm. The
wind and the water became calm in an instant.
As it reached the opposite shore, the second tree realized that it had
just carried the King of kings.
Not long
after this, on a Friday, some men came and took the timbers that were from the
third tree. They fastened the timbers
together and forced a man to carry the wood through the city. The man was beaten, whipped, cursed and
insulted. The tree was in anguish that
this man was treated in this way, but could do nothing about it. After dragging the heavy timbers through the
city, the man was cruelly nailed to the wood.
Others walked by and looked upon the man as he hung on the blood soaked
wood. The tree could not understand why
it was used for such a cruel act. The
man died and was taken down. On Sunday
morning, the man rose from the dead, triumphant! The tree realized that the Cross that it had
been made into would no longer be a symbol of death, but a sign that would
point tall and straight to Heaven and to God.
All those who would look upon it would worship God for what He had
done. In a sense, the tree had become
the tallest tree after all.
Sometimes
we dream big dreams. Whether we are
young or old, we hope to do something great, but things do not always turn out
the way we hoped they would.
Circumstances change or reality hits and we realize that we aren't able
to do what we thought we could.
Sometimes what we do become seems too small or too insignificant to do
things we hoped to do. We might not even
feel fully equipped to take care of all that life happens to throw at us. The trees all had big dreams, but when they
become a trough, a boat, and a couple of timbers they thought they were far too
insignificant to accomplish anything of importance.
God,
however, is able to work through all of that.
Even though we are unable to accomplish all our lofty goals and
ambitions; even though we might feel small and insignificant compared to those
lofty dreams we once had; God is able take us in our smallness and form us into
the proper instrument that He can use to accomplish great things. Through God's work, we are able to be a part
of something we never would have considered otherwise.
Our first
reading today from the Prophet Ezekiel talks about how God will take a tender
shoot from the top of a cedar tree and will plant it on a mountain in Israel
The Gospel
of Mark continues on this line of thought.
The mustard seed is perhaps the lowliest of seeds. They are barely the size of a period in a
book. But God is able to make it grow
into a large shrub that is home to many birds.
If God can
take small seeds and shoots and make them into great plants, how much more will
God be able to work wonders in any of us despite our shortcomings? Trust in God's plan for you.
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