The Tree and the Boy
The tree stood tall over a small cave providing it with shade. It was a sunny day. It was a beautiful day. It seemed almost as if the world was showing off, being on its best behavior. The tree saw as a light suddenly illuminated the small cave where a girl stood in awe. The girl knelt and declared herself the handmaid of the Lord. The tree sighed with joy as the girl ran to the tree’s shade to kneel down, rejoice, and pray. The tree rejoiced and prayed with her.
Not long after, the man to whom she was engaged figured out that she was with child. The girl stood there silently as the man almost cried with confusion. The girl was calm. The man was frazzled. He ran to the tree to cry and fell asleep. The tree cried and slept as well.
The tree awoke as the man moved in his sleep. He dreamt that what the girl was telling him was the truth. He awoke with a smile on his face, and the tree smiled too.
The tree did not see the boy be born. The family, as the wind had said, had gone to Bethlehem. It was rumored that the people would not give the family a place to rest and the boy had been born in a stable. “I wish I could have given them rest,” sighed the tree.
Time went by, and the tree saw the boy come back home. He was still young. The tree watched as his father taught him how to carry large pieces of wood. The carpenter showed him how to cut wood, how to file, how to carve, how to nail. The child learned everything quickly. Sometimes the father would use the shade of the tree to teach his son his trade. Sometimes the mother would use the shade of the tree to teach the son to pray. Sometimes the young boy would try to climb up the tree. The tree wished it had arms so he could hold the boy so we would not fall. The tree saw the mother smile at the boy as he played. The tree also saw the father watch the mother watch their son. Everything was well.
Time passed by and the boy grew. The man grew. The mother grew. The tree watched as the father asked his son for his blessing and kissed his wife’s hand before he took his last breath. “Oh how I wish I could give them comfort”, thought the tree.
The tree grew strong and tall. He was proud of his size. Someday he could be a boat! Maybe he could be a treasure chest! Maybe he could be a throne of an emperor or a door to a temple! He waited anxiously as he was being cut down.
The tree did not see the boy again until the boy was thirty-three years old. He saw the sorrowful, yet the trusting look of the mother. He felt the absence of the father. Then, he saw the child. The child was bloody and crowned with thorns. His back was ripped open. There was not a place where he was not bleeding. The tree felt as the men grabbed him and handed him to the boy. “Take your cross”, they spat at him. The child took the cross. The tree felt how the precious blood of the child began to transfer to the wood. For the first time in his life, the tree wished it could be smaller, lighter. He wished no further pain in the boy. The boy fell once. The men whipped him and yelled telling the boy to get up. Some of the whips hit the tree. The tree splintered. The boy’s flesh broke. The tree wished it could protect him. It wished to become a shelter for him. A haven. A man was assigned to help the child carry the tree, but the child again fell. His mother ran to him, and the child almost seemed to smile at his mother. He asked her not to cry for him, and the mother held back tears. The tree was laid on the ground and the boy was set on top of him. Silently, the boy suffered as nails were driven through his hands and feet. The tree felt the nails. The tree felt the blood. It wished to soak all of the child’s blood so none would be wasted. He saw the mother wipe the blood on the ground with her own clothes.
The tree was placed in a hole and the child was lifted with him. Again, the tree wished to hold the boy tight. As soon as the tree saw the mother, he wished he could let go of her child and give him back to her. The ground sobbed and the whole earth shook. Soon, the child breathed his last breath. The tree remembered how the mother would smile when looking at her boy climb the tree. The tree saw the mother cry for the first time. She ran to kiss her child’s feet. She kissed the tree that held him as she wished to hold him. As the child was taken down, her mother received him in her arms. Her cries were not of despair. She sobbed quietly for she knew she could trust God. The men took the boy to his grave. The mother, the girl, with tears in her eyes looked back at the tree and bowed. The tree, along with the world, bowed as well.
