"Once there was a tree...
And she loved a little boy."
""The Giving Tree" begins, "Once there was a tree..." (Dots are Shel's) and goes on for 50 more pages with a simple tale, illustrated in graceful cartoon style by the author. There was a boy who played in the tree, gathering its leaves, swinging on its branches, eating its apples. When the boy grew older he lay in the shade of the tree with a girl and carved initials in a heart. Yet older, a young man, he took the tree's branches to build a house. As an old man he needed a boat to get away from it all, so the tree said cut me down and make a boat. So we have a stump. Along comes the boy, now an old, old man, and the ex-tree says, "Come, Boy, sit down. Sit down and rest." And the tree was happy."
There's a lot of various responses at http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9501/articles/givingtree.html
I've got a lot of thots on this, but in a nutshell, it's controversial because one can barely accept the tree's unconditional love and sacrifice... it's really surprising, 'cos I think the writer isn't a Christian.
So two categories of reactions:
- The tree is wrong to tolerate the boy; it should at the least rebuke the boy for his need.
- The tree is doing what is right... it's showing a love far far greater than we want to accept.
Think a lot of pple cannot stand the tree's action, saying that the boy should be rebuked or rejected by the tree... tink if they were right, they're afraid to admit that the boy is, in a very real way, a spitting image of themselves - that deep down, we are all like that boy, always receiving, but never giving anything in return - even to the point of chopping the tree down. But in the end, when the boy is an old man, and all he has is just the stump of the tree, even then, in love the tree calls the old man, "Come, Boy, sit down. Sit down and rest."
Think it touches me very much, because i look at the boy, and i see myself, always receiving but never bothering to give... yet, in a way, the boy has given - but given in a way that scars the tree, when he inscribes a heart onto the tree: "ME + T". And i'm reminded of someone who said, "Even our tears of repentance have to be washed clean in the blood of the Lamb." Think even the kindest acts that we did have to be washed clean in His blood... shed in unimaginable suffering.
Such is grace, so deep, that one cannot sit on the fence. One either accepts it gratefully, recognising that there is REALLY a love that is so great that it will accept even the worst sinner, or one totally rejects the grace and turns aside to judging the boy... because we do not want to believe that the boy is ourselves.
But what about the justice part?
No, in a way, the tree has not been wronged - deep down within, the boy keeps returning to the tree. And that is the tree's sole reward - the love of the boy.
(I'm reminded of Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son when I write this down...)
And i thot abt it... a God who is so crazy about us, that He'd give all He has, even His own Son, His own life, His own glory and majesty, just to bring us to Him?
He's FAR nobler than i can ever be... i just receive and receive... and when I give to Him, I still stumble in my giving... even my best acts of righteousness are filthy rags in His eyes...
and all He wants is me?
But one thing that I must do - no matter what happens - is keep returning to God. For all He wants is all of me...
Timothy Jackson, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University, (http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9501/articles/givingtree.html) writes:
"With God we have to take the active, conscious step of asking for help; the boy asks primarily for things, but he too must voice his vulnerability in order to be cared for. For all its gifting of itself, however, the tree is not untouched; it also receives from the boy. Even as a stump, the tree is literally marked by the boy's love. The carved heart with "M.E. + T." inside endures across all changes, simultaneously a scar and a sign of love. Love bears all things and it never ends, even if life does. We must think the tree happy, not like the absurd Sisyphus but like the Suffering Servant."
Jesus said in John 10:11, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."
And another thought. I'm thinking about the love of my parents. Think the writer's intention was to highlight a parent's love for his/her children. Though our parents are not perfect (who is, anyway?), they've really shown love to us in one way or another.
Just now, my dad just called to see how I am. I told him I'm studying in school. Then my handphone went dead (low battery). To be honest, I wasn't really thinking of calling him back... then I thought about my parents. My parents have given so much to me - given me allowance when I needed it... bought food and drink for me... rejoiced in my birth... still took care of me when i was rude and rebellious to them... and even up to now, I haven't given them much in return. I really thank God for them. And i really don't know how to repay them - and i don't think i will ever be able to repay them for the love that they've shown to me. It's not a transaction... it's a relationship... it's not a loan... it's a gift. and I think the right thing to do, in God's eyes, is to give them the gift of love in return.
So i'm gonna call my dad (as soon as i get my hp battery charged).
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