“I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty, and at the heavens, and their light was gone.”                                                                                                 Jeremiah 4:23 (NIV)

I reclined in the chair admiring my work. The color-coordinated decorations were just right. Everything perfectly scattered among the branches. I thought to myself, “This is a beautiful tree.  Good job!”

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw it … a bare spot. A space totally void of decoration. No glass ornament. No festive bow. Not even a twinkling light. How could this be? A flaw in my perfectly beautiful tree.

I contemplated moving an ornament but that would create a different bare spot. I checked the box of decorations and all of the ornaments for this tree had been used. Unable to find a solution at the moment, I decided the bare spot wasn’t so bad. Right? It would take too much rearranging to try to fix it right then so I decided to leave it. It was near the back of the tree so no one else would notice.

The Christmas tree is beautiful and I love to sit and admire it in the quiet, dark morning. Yet, each day when I sit down to gaze upon it, I get this feeling that something just isn’t quite right. 

It’s that bare spot. I just can’t ignore it. My eyes drift directly toward it each time I recline and take in the sights of this beautiful season.  Yet, it is hardly even noticeable.

If you were to visit my home today I bet you wouldn’t be able to spot it. But, I know it is there. 

A bare spot. An empty space.

Our lives during the Christmas season can be similar to this tree. We try to put it all together with everything just right. Yet, there is still a bare spot, something that is missing. An empty space in our tree of life. 

Some bare spots are new. It wasn’t there last year. Then, as hard as we try to fill the void there just isn’t enough stuff or fluff to fill in that space without leaving a gap somewhere else. 

Other bare spots appear each year. They may shrink over time as we collect new things to replace what is broken, lost, or missing, but the original tree will never be the same. 

Sometimes our bare spots are clearly visible to everyone and others we cleverly hide by turning things just to hide the void.

How can this tree be so full yet still empty in that one spot? How can I be so full of life yet still feel incomplete?

As hard as I try each year (really each day), everything can’t be just so or always put together just right. No tree is perfect. Nothing is flawless. We all have bare spots – literally and figuratively. But each tree is beautiful. Each life meaningful. 

Don’t let those bare spots keep you from celebrating the season. Let God help decorate your life and fill in some of those bare spots and embrace the others – you know, the ones that are just part of your tree, your life. 

If you doubt God can fill your void, read Genesis 1:2, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the water.”  

Just look at the heavens and the earth. He did a pretty awesome job starting with nothing.

When we feel formless or empty, He can certainly work wonders. He is hovering over you now. Let Him fill your bare spots – today and very day!