The Importance of a Light bulb

In my home this year, the Saturday after Thanksgiving was spent getting the Christmas decorations out and ready to go. We decided to put up the artificial tree we bought last year after New Years. We got a HUGE deal on that expensive item and now we get to enjoy it this Christmas.
When Hubby and I opened the box, we found three pieces of fake tree to slightly assemble. Not too hard, really. The pretend Fir comes with multicolored lights attached so no more untangling gobs of stringed bulbs. Yay!
7 ft. tree assembled, check. Limbs and branches spread out to look authentic, check. Lights lit and working, nope. Okay, I exaggerate. It was one little section. Figures.

Ya know that elation you feel right before you know you will experience joy? Only it is deflated the moment the disappointing reality occurs? Yep, that pretty much describes the feeling we got when we expected the tree to be fully lit.

Not willing to be defeated by a few light bulbs, we worked as a team to figure out if it was a fuse or one bulb causing the problem. All the while being interrupted by sweet, curious eyes or a voice coming from the other room. "I want to put on an ormant." That's Schafer's version of ornament.

When we tried both options and had failed, we felt like banishing the synthetic joy killer, but ya know what I did? I prayed.

I have always struggled with bothering the Lord over petty requests and this one might be the most pitiful, but I wanted our tree to work. I wanted my children to experience this tradition. My small prayer went like this:
Lord, you say that we can ask you anything in your name. Please help us find a solution, as I want this tree to work. Please fix our tree.

I let out a sigh and SERIOUSLY I touched one of the defective light bulbs and to my amazement, the unlit section turned on!!! Chris was like, "What, all you did was touch the red one?" I told him that I prayed.

What a loving God we have. I immediately thanked the Lord for his blessing.

We got a step stool for Schafer and he put on his first ornament for the first time. He beamed from ear to ear with pride of his accomplishment. Thank you again Lord was silently running in my head. See the finished piece below:


Did my faith (sometimes the size of a salt grain) help me receive the blessing of a fully lit, fully ornamented tree? I don't know. Maybe it had nothing to do with my faith and more to do with teaching me that I can ask the Lord for help in ALL THINGS.

God may not answer all of my requests the way I ask for them (I am sure that is a good thing), but I can still ask.

It is okay to ask.

I need to quit thinking that the Lord thinks I am ridiculous or that he is too busy to deal with my insignificant afflictions. I worry that he will look at all my begging with disdain. That he will tire of my selfish desires.

It doesn't matter how sinful or selfish I am because God doesn't tire of me.
He loves me. All of me. He cares for and about me. He isn't the kind of God who wants me to only experience suffering, disappointment and pain.

His word says,...he rescued me because he delights in me." Psalm 18:19

The Lord delights in us. Even enough to consider the importance of a light bulb.