Lessons from Cutting Down the Annual Christmas Tree

It’s hard to believe that is has been six years since I wrote this as my wife, Joan, decorated our Christmas tree.  As she decorated I began getting sentimental and philosophical at the same time.  I hope you enjoy my lessons:

My daughter, Kerri, and I had a tradition of cutting down the annual Christmas tree. As I fondly thought about it, I decided that the annual trek to the Christmas tree farm had lessons that we could all learn from.

1.      Don’t settle for the first good-looking tree. Kerri was always eager to get the tree selection done quickly in order to get home and start the decorating, not realizing that the secret to a great Christmas tree begins with the selection. A well-decorated Charlie Brown tree is still a Charlie Brown tree. Short-cutting the selection process gets people in trouble their whole life. Selecting the first guy that shows a girl a little attention is a sure-fire way to end in divorce court. A management textbook calls it “satisficing” – selecting the first solution that meets the minimum criteria instead of going for the best. Take your time and wait for the best.

2.      A big tree in the outdoors is a gargantuan tree in one’s living room. I was guilty of this more times than I’d like to admit. The tree needs to be selected in reference to the size of the room it is going in – not the room in which it currently sits. Reference is everything. Compared to Bill Gates, I’m a pauper. Compared to most of the people in the world, I’m Bill Gates. Never lose perspective.

3.      It is cold, windy (sometimes raining) and generally miserable cutting down a tree, but it is worth it. Christmas tree cutting is a wintertime activity and winter in Indiana can be miserable. Rarely has it been a nice day when we cut down a tree.  But when the time came for the next tree cutting, I forgot the miserable weather we endured the prior year, eager again to beat the elements in the quest for the ideal Christmas tree. Anything and everything in life worth having is a struggle to achieve. The easy-to-obtain things in life and the mundane are easily forgotten.

4.      The simple things in life are usually the most memorable. This seems contradictory to the last lesson, doesn’t it? Not really. Simple and easy are different. When you think about the act of going to a Christmas tree farm and cutting down a tree, it is a pretty simple task and yet for us it brings back the best of memories. This is different than standing in line for hours for the “must have gift”. It’s not complicated, nor hard to plan. It is just the simple act of spending time with a child and creating a Christmas tradition that lives on in our memories. 

5.      Don’t forget the saw. Failing to plan is planning to fail. Simple does not mean it requires no forethought. A few minutes of planning saves the long trip back to get the saw.

6.      Natural trees aren’t perfect and perfect trees aren’t real. Natural trees smell good and look good, but they do not look perfect. If you want perfection you want artificial. That’s the way it is with people. The prefect people you see on the screen aren’t real and the real people in your life aren’t perfect.

Bill Burton, Ph.D.

Christmas, 2010

Wednesday was another day of chemo. The week before this last round of chemo was the best since my treatments began. I gained 4 pounds in the prior two weeks, which is something I needed to do. After chemo on Wednesday, we went to Kerri’s for two nights and celebrated Thanksgiving with her family. We had a great time with our little family including our son-in-law’s parents. Madeleine, our granddaughter, kept us entertained the entire time.

Thanksgiving was different this year. I was attached to a pump infusing me with chemo. In spite of my circumstances, I felt so grateful. I thank God for His continual presence which has been so pronounced and special these past seven weeks. I’m grateful for the many family members, friends, and people we have never met who have faithfully lifted us up in prayer. We feel so fortunate to be part of this awesome family of God.

We went out to eat last night and ran into a former co-worker of mine from GM. What a blessing it was to share just a little bit with Harry and Margaret Jones and have them tell us that we are in their prayers. God has been so faithful to regularly put people in our paths to encourage us.

I want to thank you who are reading this blog regularly for your words of encouragement. I am praying that God reveals more of himself to you during my battle with cancer.

The much anticipated scans have been scheduled for Friday 12/9. This is a bit later that we had originally been told. I will get another treatment on 12/7 before the scans. The outcome of the scans will determine if the chemo will continue. In many ways I feel as though the chemo is working. We are praying that the scans prove that the cancer is being destroyed.

Thank you again for your faithfulness in praying for us.

The larger our problems look, the smaller our God will appear.

“The larger our problems look, the smaller our God will appear.”

In February, 2014 I made the statement above in a message on the Children of Israel’s first attempt at entering Canaan. Ten spies confirmed that just as God had said, the Promised Land did flow with milk and honey, but those spies also said the land was filled with giants. Joshua and Caleb confirmed that what the others said was true, but they predicted that God would be with them and the Israelites would overcome the giants (Numbers 13).

Ten spies focused on the size of the problem. Two focused on God.

This difference in perspective is significant in our ability to trust God. I regularly find my thoughts drifting toward the uncertainty of my future.  I sometimes struggle with questions like, “What happens if I get bad news in December regarding the spread of this cancer?”  There are so many difficult questions and there are no good answers.

When I find that I am being overwhelmed by these doubts and fears, I am reminded that I am focusing on my problems and not on God. The more attention I give to this cancer and all of the uncertainty associated with it, the larger the cancer becomes. When I shift my focus to the awesomeness of God, the doubts and fear leave.

As I begin to focus on God, I meditate on the words of Isaiah 6: 1-4

I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

I think about the words in Isaiah 40:12:

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?  Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?

I think about the creation story in Genesis 2 and I imagine God scooping up a handful of dirt while making Adam and breathing life into him.

And then I begin to worship God. The more I focus my attention on Him and His power and His love and the many ways in which He has blessed me in the past, the fears and doubts leave. My God becomes larger and larger in my sight and my problems shrink away.

Where is your focus today? Are you focused on how big your problems are or how big God is?

Peace

As I was praying yesterday, an overwhelming sense of peace surrounded me. As I began to contemplate this, my thoughts turned toward the story of the disciples in the boat with Jesus when the storm arose. In the storms of life, we want the rain to stop. We want the wind and the lightning to cease. What we really want is security. We desire an absence of problems and issues. We want a carefree, stress free life. We want what we think is peace.

The truth of the matter is, this broken world in which we live does not have perpetual security and calm. Anytime we are without struggles, we are merely enjoying the calm before the next storm of life’s issues. There is no real security outside of being secure in Christ.

As I considered the peace I was experiencing in my prayer time, I realized that peace does not ignore the fact that it is raining, the wind is blowing or that eventually, the storm may, in fact, sink our boat. Peace is knowing that despite the reality of the storm there is a greater reality in the One who can calm the storm. Peace is the tranquility to stand in the storm and know without question, that everything will be alright. Peace is not found in the calm. Peace is knowing that Jesus is in the boat with me while the rain falls and the winds blow and still being content that He is in control. Real peace is attainable only in Christ. There is no security outside of Him. None.  Period.

It’s been over a week now since my chemo. I had a great day today and am looking forward to even better days this weekend.

Prayer Part 2

It was good to attend Life Community Church today and visit with so many who have supported us in our journey.  What a privilege it was to sing and praise our Lord in worship!  It’s been 5 days since my third round of chemo began. I was tired most of the day today and slept a lot, but I can feel the effects of chemo wearing off. Tomorrow I should start feeling more normal.

Thank you for continuing to lift us up in prayer. We regularly thank God for you and ask Him to bless you for your love and support. You have no idea how much we appreciate all the kind words, encouragement and prayers.

Some have asked how they could pray for us:
1. Pray that the side effects of chemo will be kept to a minimum, allowing me to eat adequately enough that I don't lose more weight.
2. Pray that the chemo destroys the cancer throughout my body.
3. Pray for improved body scans in early December which will be influential in deciding whether or not we go forward with additional treatment.
4. Pray for complete healing and for God to give me a long life so that I can be a witness to others.
5. Pray that we grow in our faith through this experience and learn how to minister to others who are impacted by cancer.
6. Pray for Joan, my best friend, my nurse and care-giver, to receive the support she needs to remain strong throughout this journey.

Prayer Part 1

Until now, all of my prayer requests have been short term, such as “pray for a successful surgery next week”. I have never been is a situation such as this where I am asking people to continually pray for me for months at a time.  I have prayed for people for years, in some cases, but now I am seeing prayer from a different perspective.

Last week, I received a simple email that said, “Still praying, Bill.” The impact that this had on me was overwhelming. Today a simple email came that said, “I continue to pray for you and your family”. These are just two of the many such emails, texts, phone calls, cards and conversations that I have had in which people were assuring me that they were continuing to pray for us. The constant reminders that we are being prayed for is so encouraging and uplifting. At times, they come in moments of doubt and discouragement such as when the side effects from chemotherapy are getting me down.

These subtle, yet constant reminders are something that, unfortunately I did not do for people I prayed for. I’m not sure why I did not remind people that I was praying for them. That will never happen in the future. I now see that “Bearing one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2) includes constant reminders that I am praying.

I feel good

This past week was awesome. Each day I felt a little better than the day before. On Sunday, I was singing James Brown’s, I feel good. Tomorrow is Wednesday and I begin another round of chemo. My prayer request is that the chemo’s side effects are kept to a minimum, especially the upset stomach.

Later this week I will be writing on prayer. I haven’t asked for prayer many times in my life. I want to share with you my new perspective on prayer.

We continue to thank God for all of our faithful prayer partners. Thank you for your commitment to pray for us.

As I have had a lot of time to reflect on things since my diagnosis, one thing has become clear to me. God has been preparing me for this current journey for some time. In July 2015 (about the time the oncologist said I probably contracted cancer) I spoke at Life Community Church on the story of Lazarus found in John 11. That particular message was one that I worked on for about 3 months off and on. At the time I gave the message, I encouraged people to take notes and I quote from my notes: “because this is one of those message for the body of Christ that we need to refer to every now and then. If you are going through a difficult situation, this message is for you. If you are not going through a difficult time, well, as we all know, you will”.

Little did I realize that this message was also for me.

The major points are below:

God always knows what is going on.

We are surprised when we lose our jobs or get a diagnosis of cancer, but God is never surprised.

God always has a plan.

Because He is not surprised, God has figured out how to use these tragedies in our lives for His purpose.

God’s plans always encompass reality.

Our plans never include losing our jobs or getting cancer (reality).  Our plans are based on everything always going perfect, which is not reality. God’s plans include the tragedies that happen as part of living in this messed up world.

God’s plan always encompasses eternity.

Our plans seldom encompass eternity, but that is always God’s main objective.

We don’t die.  We don’t ever die.

When it’s all over, it’s not really over. We just relocate to a better place.

We seldom comprehend God’s plan.

Because we only see what is in front of us, we seldom comprehend what God is trying to accomplish with His plan.

God seldom performs the way we want Him to.

We know God does not perform for us, but we sometimes act as if we think He should. He will never perform for us.

We can take comfort in these words, “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever lives by believing in me will never die” (John 11:25).

For those of us who are Christ followers, He is there at the end of this life opening the door to a better, eternal life.

I have reread these words many times in the past few weeks and I wouldn’t change a word. I believed it then and I believe it today.