Don't Major on the Minor - My Christmas Tree Stand story

 I typically begin to decorate for Christmas after I host the Thanksgiving Day dinner.  My younger daughter usually helps us with the 10ft Colonial Village that I display on a rock divider between my living room and dining area. 

Once the village was up I began to box up my harvest decoration and bring in Christmas boxes.  When the tree box was brought in I went back out to the garage to get the tree stand that was on a shelf and it was missing!  I found that strange as I had seen it there the week before.  So I hunted all over the garage and finally asked my husband if he knew where it was.  

He told me he had thrown it away as he thought it was an extra stand.  The week before I had my daughter and son-in-law come over as I wanted to give them the second tree that I had decided to not put up anymore.  When they came by to get it I had Matt look in the tree bag to see if the tree stand was in there.  He said it was and zipped the bag up and put it in his vehicle.  A couple days went by and my husband was in the garage and saw a tree stand on the shelf and thought it was an extra one and threw it away.  The only problem was it was not an extra stand - it was the one and only one that came with the newer tree that I was planning to assemble and shape!

After he explained what happened to the stand I took several deep breaths and then we got in the car and went looking for a new stand for the tree.  We could only find the ones that are for real trees.  I even thought we might have to order one from the company we bought the tree from. The day was winding down and my tree was still in three pieces on my floor and my goal was to have it up and shaped before my niece came over the next day to help me decorate it.  I finally said we would have to buy the real tree stand and try to make it work.  We took it home but after several modifications, it still didn't work!  We went back out shopping at about 6 pm and we found one but due to a commitment that night we couldn't try it out until the next day.  The good news is the tree stand worked and I almost had the tree ready for decorating by the time my niece Cindi got to my house the next day. 

Love the traditional red and green tree

Tree stand worked!

Throughout the day I would find myself frustrated because my day wasn't going as planned.  I could have hurt my husband's feelings if I said anything I would later regret.  I had these words rise up in my spirit, "I love my husband more than my tree stand."  Yes, it was a honey of a stand but it was a thing and my husband is a person.  I thought how often do we say or do something that hurts another person's feelings because we are more concerned about an object or thing?

There is a wonderful confession in God's word that I personalized and have used for several years from First Corinthians 13:4-8 in the Living Bible translation:

"I am very patient and kind, never jealous or envious, never boastful or proud.  I am never haughty or selfish or rude.
I do not demand my own way.  I am not irritable or touchy.  I do not hold grudges and I hardly even notice when others do me wrong.  I am never glad about injustice, but rejoice when truth wins out.  If I love someone, I will be loyal to them no matter what the cost.  I will always believe in them, always expect the best of them, always stand my ground in defending them."

I believe life is full of tests and I have heard said if we don't pass the test we get to do it over.  I believe with those words that came up in my spirit it helped me not say anything I would regret and I passed the test and hopefully, we won't end up again with a tree that doesn't have a stand!  We now have a new family rule that we discuss what we are going to throw in the trash if we are not sure the other person wants it and knows what it is for.

The name of this blog is "Most of Life is Every day" and I am finding out more and more that how we react or respond to situations is what makes it a great day, a so-so day, or a bad day.  So when you have an opportunity to overcome in a situation I hope you will remember my little story and remember you love that person more than you love things.