all right!' But it's not all right" (Jer. 8:11, God's Word
Translation). As much as I wished it were so, all the
duct tape in the world wouldn't have made my tree
all right, nor can I tape up and heal the gaping
wounds in my soul, those places either torn apart by
my own sin or betrayed by the offense of another.
He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment
that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds
we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). Frederick Buechner puts
the coming of Jesus into perspective for us: "Jesus
was not looking for the wounded so He could put
band�aids on them--He was looking for a man [or
woman] who He could make whole."
tape? Well, just in case they did, that's what the gar-
land and other glittery decorations were for. Surely
some bling on our tree would cover up the problem
area. That attempt didn't work any better than the
duct tape. It's a lesson generally faced by the age of 6
or 7--the attempted cover�up is worse than the initial
offense. Better to admit your guilt, take the punish-
ment and move on.
so many distractions that we don't have to look at
our hearts. We allow addictions of all kinds to keep
us from those we love and from God. We deny that
anything is wrong or that our priorities are out of
whack. We rationalize that our religious behavior
will make it all right. Yet here's the truth that we
don't want to hear: If our glittery garland is covering
up something in us that God longs to make whole,
then we are sinning.
garland can repair. Yet as Martin Marty knows, "Bro-
kenness and wounding do not occur to break human
dignity, but to open the heart so God can act." It is
only in response to our confession and repentance
that God sweeps in with a gracious sense of forgive-
ness and healing.
minder of the futility of attempted cover�ups and the
enormity of the grace of God.
kids into the station wagon, whether they wanted to
go or not, determined to "make a memory" that they'd
cherish into adulthood. Despite the muddy boots and
the cranky kids, we did succeed at creating a lasting
memory in our final attempt at cutting our own tree,
but it took quite a few days for our classic tree story
to develop.
to get that lonely tree up and decorated, with or with-
out anyone's help. So, Christmas carols blaring, I
wrestled it into the house, battled with the cantan-
kerous three�legged tree stand and triumphantly
raised the tree to its full height--about a foot too
high for our family room.
area, the boys at 6 and 4 were absorbed with their
G.I. Joes and I was determined to finish what I'd
started. I'm a carpenter's daughter, so I thought,
how hard can it be to saw off a section of the trunk
and a couple of lower branches? Bad question. After
what seemed like hours of sawing, there was only a
faint line around the trunk. I came up with Plan B--
what if I cut off the top of the tree, remove a few
inches of the trunk where I could actually cut through
it and then somehow wire the top back on?
stood back and thought "hmm, that's barely notice-
able." Right. That's why there is a chapter in the an-
nals of the Shade family history entitled The Year
Mom Cut Off the Top of the Christmas Tree, right
before The Year We Bought an Artificial Tree.
wounded places with duct tape? The prophet Jere-
miah spoke about it centuries ago: "They treat my
dear people's wounds as though they were not seri-