John Sheda

With Easter just a little over a week away, here is a story entitled “The Three Trees.” I believe the author is anonymous and it’s a rather appropriate story for our season of Easter. Here goes….

Once upon a time three little trees stood alongside the other trees in the forest and they all stood proud and dreamed what each might become when they grew up. The first little tree looked high into the stars and said, “I want to hold something valuable and to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones. I want to be the most beautiful treasure chest in the whole world.” The second little tree looked out at a small stream and simply said, “I want to travel the mighty waters and carry powerful kings. I’ll be the strongest ship in the world.”

Now the third little tree looked down into the little village where all the men and women lived and worked. “I don’t want to ever leave this mountain top. I just want to grow so tall that when people look at me, they’ll raise their eyes to heaven and think of God. Yes, I want to be the tallest tree in the world.”

Now most of you have probably heard variations of this story over the years, and here is what happened to these three trees once they were grown tall and strong. The first tree, (who wanted to be the beautiful treasure chest), ended up stuck in some old cave as a feeding trough for livestock animals The second tree, (who desired to be best ship in the world), actually ended up being a ragged old boat owned by a fisherman who used it to catch and sell his fish. The third tree, (who wanted to stand tall pointing others to heaven), was actually chopped down into a couple long pieces of wood and discarded with a bunch of other lumber.

As Paul Harvey might say, “Here’s the rest of the story.” The first tree ended up as a feeding trough for animals — actually, it became the cradle for a little boy named Jesus, the greatest treasure in the world. The second tree became the boat that a man named Jesus sailed in and during a terrible storm, he got up and simply said, “Peace,” and the storm ended as quickly as it started. This tree knew he was now carrying the King of all Kings.

The third tree, who wanted only to stand tall and point others toward heaven, was fashioned into two crude beams with no chance to stand tall and proud. However these two beams became the cross that a man named Jesus was nailed to. This tree ultimately pointed anyone to heaven.

All three trees got exactly what they dreamed of. Happy Easter from jsheda@indytel.com.