Sunday in the South: The Tale of the Three Trees

I rotate teaching Sunday school with two other precious women. Today was my turn to teach a "Christmas" lesson to our Youth Girls Sunday School Class. I wanted to do something fun and different from the "normal" Christmas lesson. The Tale of the Three Trees and cookies just kept coming to mind. Cookies because well...who doesn't love a good Christmas cookie and the Three Trees story because it is one of my favorites. My mama bought if for Peyton when he was little bitty, he passed it on to Landon. It is a treasured keepsake in our home. Since the book is fictional I wanted to tie in scripture for my girls. This is what God laid on my heart for them...

The powerful message that God has a special plan for our lives permeates through the story of the three trees. The trees, much like all of us have dreams and plans for what they want in life. The trees find themselves in places that they never desired to be in during their life, but at the end "God's love changes everything."

Listen to the actual story here:

The Tale of Three Trees

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

God has a plan for each and every one of us. There may be times we lose sight of our dreams, and we may not understand the things that take place in our lives. We must remember through that God loves us, has a plan for us, and is in complete control. We can trust him.

I asked the girls if the trees dreams came true. There answer, "Yes, just in a different way than they wanted.

Isaiah 55:8
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the Lord."

We talked about Mary and Joseph. Two people that couldn't be more like the trees. Neither of them were able to live out their original plans for lives. Mary certainly wasn't expecting to have a baby much less deliver the King of the universe. They did however end up with each other, and more than they could have ever hoped or dreamed of. I talked to the girls about how cool it is that the people of the Bible, even though it was 100's of 1000's of years ago, had struggles just like us. Had hopes, and dreams, and plans that didn't go exactly like they had wanted.

Life is like a tapestry. When you look at it from underneath, it looks like a mass of mess. Random threads that seem to be tangled with no pattern. Yet when it is seen from above, the beauty of the planned artwork is evident. We only see life from here below. Many times it appears as a mass of mess, forgotten by the artist and left to random chance. That is so far from the truth. God has a plan for each of us, and although we can't see the pattern of the threads, He can. He is in control of all of them. We just have to trust and be obedient like Mary and Joseph.

Just like tapestry one of the most amazing pieces of artwork designed by God is a snowflake. Although their beauty is not seen by the human eye each one that falls has intricate, perfect details, designed for His purpose.  Just like us. Each person, designed by him, unique, different, beautiful in His sight, not seen at times by the human eye.

Wow, what an Awesome God we serve!

I gave the girls the brightest, pinkest, glitteriest, shiniest, snowflake ornaments for their trees I could find. To remind them each year that they are beautiful, unique, and designed for a purpose. I love each and every one of them and they teach me so much each Sunday that I am with them. One of my many reasons for loving #sundayinthesouth.

We decorated our trees with icing and sprinkles. The girls had fun decorating their trees and enjoying their cookie treats. The boys class was totally jealous! By the way, I am 34 and this is the very first time I have EVER rolled out dough and used my cookie cutters to make real Christmas cookies by myself! I told them I would accept my medal now! Especially since I baked them at 11:30 the night before...but you can hear about that in another blog post on another day.