Syndicated columnist Mike Royko once wrote about a poor couple shopping
for a Christmas tree. On Christmas Eve they went to a tree lot that was about
to close. They couldn’t afford a nice tree so they asked if the owner would
sell them two of the worst looking trees for $3. He agreed to the nominal price
for the sad pair of sparse spruce.
On Christmas Day the tree lot
owner walked by the couple's apartment and saw a beautifully decorated tree
through the window. Overcome by curiosity, he knocked on the door to find out
what happened, and then learned “the secret.” The couple explained how they took
the two trees and tied them together with wire. Each had one very bare side,
but when merged together they created a full tree.
Reflecting on his wife who had
died six years earlier, Royko finished the column with these words: “So that’s
the secret. You take two trees that aren’t perfect, that have flaws…that
maybe nobody else would want. But if you put them together just right, you can
come up with something really beautiful. Like two people, I guess.” (One More Time, Mike Royko, 2000,
p.185).
This is a
picture of God’s intent for marriage where “the two shall become one flesh”
(Mark 10:8). Two flawed people can make a better couple, not by arguing about
their differences but by combining the best qualities of both people. Kind of
like two Christmas trees, I guess.
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