Scraggly Tree

         Did you ever feel like that scraggly little Charlie Brown tree?   Like all around you there are beautiful, shiny, straight, tall, strong, spectacular trees, getting all the attention and making you look even more puny, plain, and scrawny?  I think we’ve all felt like that at one time or another.  When we compare ourselves to others around us we can feel like we are less than they are, focusing on our shortcomings as we see them, and concentrating on only the strengths that we perceive in those around us.  If we looked closer, we’d notice that there is maybe a light out here, a bend in the trunk there, and little patches where the needles are a bit sparse.  We might see that they are not really getting more attention than we are; they just happen to be what is needed at the moment.  If we are patient, someone will come along and see the value of us, and take us home.  Then someone else comes along and wraps that blue blanket around our trunk and suddenly we feel wanted and important.  Pretty soon there are beautiful decorations and lights making us feel special and, yes, even spectacular.  Friendship is the blue blanket, and kind words and deeds are the ornaments and love is the illumination.  It is then our time to shine.  So the next time you find yourself feeling like that Charlie Brown tree just wait, soon enough you’ll be feeling wonderful; and if by chance you recognize a fellow scrawny tree, be that blue blanket and watch the little tree shine.