Three Trees

There were three trees who were bragging their dreams against one another. They were Richard, Powell and Rex.

Richard: Time will come that I will be the richest wood of all. I will live in a castle because my owner will make me as the most beautiful treasure chest. In me, there will be so much gold, silver and all the riches that the two of you can imagine.

Powell: Think again, Rich. Someday, I will be the biggest ship in the entire continent. The whole forest will be so jealous of me because rich, famous and powerful people will ride in me in the vast sea. I will bring them to their destination and they will praise me for my beauty. How about that?

Richard: Hey Rex. Why are you so quiet? Don't you have a dream to brag about?

Powell: Yeah Rex. Mister Money here is right. What do you want to be?

Rex: Oh me? I just want to be a tree here, standing tall above all the trees. Nothing fancy like your dreams. I just want to be the king of all trees--the king of the forest.

Powell: Oh, I'm in the sea so I'm no subject of yours, pal.

Richard: Me too.

The Three: Cheers to our dreams!

Loggers came and cut Richard down. He was very excited of what he has to become. He could almost smell the sweet fragrance of castle perfumes and feel the tender texture of the castle carpet.

To his dismay, he was made into a manger, not a treasure chest. He was put in a barn full of stinking animals and not in a castle he always dreamed about. Oh how much he longed for that sweet smelling fragrant and shiny jewels. And now, this?

"Lord, why have you made me like this?"

One night, a weary couple came into the dark barn. It was his first time to see people coming in for quite a long time. The woman was in labor. And then the cries of a baby boy. The husband inlaid some cushions in the manger and placed the bouncing newborn baby to sleep tenderly in the humbled manger.

Later, some shepherds came in the barn and praised the baby boy saying that he indeed is the Son of the living God.

Richard was dumbstruck. All his life, he dreamed of holding the riches of the earth in his belly. He had never dreamed of being the first bed of the Master of the universe who came down from heaven to save the many. He became a treasure chest after all, but not for the treasures of the earth but for the source of them all.

 

Next, the axe came upon Powell. Like Richard, he was also excited for his fate. However, creases on the foreheads of shipbuilders. Powell is just too thin and too weak to be a ship. So instead of making him into a ship, he was made into a small boat.

Powell had always wanted to sail the seas but the people threw him to the fishermen in the lake. Only poor people were able to ride on him, most of them were fishermen. 

"Lord, why have you made me like this?"

One night, several people rode him to cross to the other side of the lake. One of them was asleep. Suddenly, fierce winds beat his sail and almost torn it apart from the boat. Huge waves were towering above them as if it were ready to devour them whole. The end has come and he will spend the rest of his life under the depths of the lake. 

Just when all hope is gone--as if it were--the men woke the sleeping man who was with them. They were crying out to him as if he could help him. Then the man stood up and gave a command to the wind and waves to be still and it did. If he could take a breath, Powell would have made a very deep sigh of relief. Who is that man that even the waves and wind obey him? And he heard the men saying that the man indeed was the Son of God.

Powell was overwhelmed by the happiness that he had never even dreamed about--to be the boat to carry the Son of God and his disciples to whom he would send to give hope and strength to the weary.

 The last of the three, standing alone tall among all the other trees, Rex couldn't help but marvel at his exaltation.  Yes, he was complacent knowing that he's the one left on top.

To his dread, loggers came to cut him down. The pain of his downfall pierces to his heart. So much for exaltation, and so much for majesty. Gone are those days. The heathen axe beasts cut down his treasured crown of glory, leaving him stripped off his bark. They left him bare, useless and beaten in the dark where no one would even care to pass by. 

He dreamed of being on the top, high above the others. Day and night, he enjoyed every moment of his reign until the tables were turned. Fear and anguish were his friends throughout the days since his fall.

When finally, he saw the glimpse of daylight and the warmth of noon as the doors finally open. Some men took him and gave him to a battered, beaten and wounded man to be carried somewhere he thought he would loathe all his life. He knew this isn't what he hoped for. The chamber felt like heaven for him compared to the shame of being carried by a man who is like a lamb ready to be slaughtered. Everyone's eyes were on the man. He knew those were on him too. And he knew those weren't looks of praise but of disgust. As if adding pain to insult, he was made to stand up on a cursed hill surrounded by angry mobs carrying the wounded man bound to him by nails on his hands and feet. The blood of the man trickled down his once glorious trunk.

"Lord, why have you made me like this?"

Not long after, after a loud cry, the man died. Then a strong earthquake shook the whole planet. He saw a Roman soldier bow down before the man and cried out that he was indeed the Son of God.

His shame was drained like the great waterfalls. His disgust and bitterness were washed away from him like a storm. The shame he thought that would end all his confidence turned out to be the greatest honor that anyone would have received, that is, to be able to carry the Son of God and clothed by his precious blood.

And so it was. The three trees did not achieve what they dreamed about.

But God made them into something that even their dreams couldn't fathom.