SermonStudio

As the children gather, I bring over a flowerpot in which I have placed a small cedar tree that "volunteered" in my yard during the summer. I also have red dogwood leaves, hidden in a plastic bag.

After greeting the assembled youngsters, I ask if anyone went outside on Saturday. Most heads nod affirmatively.

"Did anyone notice the trees?" I ask. Several children indicate they did.

"Well, what's happening to them?" I continue.

"They're changing colors!"

"Some of them have turned orange!"

"And red and yellow!"

"Some of them are brown!"

As the children's answers spill over each other, it is obvious that autumn has arrived in all its splendor -- and the children have noticed.

"My goodness!" I exclaim. "The trees are putting on their fall colors, aren't they! Have ALL of them changed?"

Several children indicate they have not with a shake of their heads. One little girl points to the tree I have brought and says, "That one won't change. It will stay green."

"That's right," I agree. "It will stay green all year 'round. That's why it is called an EVERgreen tree."

"Well, this morning I have a story for you about a tree just like this one. Once upon a time an evergreen tree was growing up in a big forest beneath the mighty oaks, the tall hickory trees, and alongside the smaller trees like the redbuds and the dogwoods. In fact, this evergreen grew up right next to a dogwood tree.

"The first time the evergreen noticed the dogwood was in the spring. What happens to dogwood trees in the springtime?" I ask the children. They think for a moment.

"Remember," I continue, "it's springtime ..."

"They have flowers!" several children answer.

"Yes; they have flowers. And so did this dogwood tree that was growing next to the evergreen. Well, the evergreen tree looked at how beautiful the dogwood was and caught its breath. 'Oh!' gasped the evergreen in wonder, 'how beautiful you are!'

" 'Why, thank you,' the dogwood replied.

"As the evergreen admired the dogwood, it also became very aware of its own branches, covered just as they always were -- in green. It wished it could have such lovely flowers.

"But, as spring faded into summer, the dogwood dropped its flowers and put on green leaves. 'This is better,' the evergreen thought to itself. 'Now I don't feel so out of place. We're both wearing green.'

"But summer, of course, did not last. The days grew shorter, the air grew cooler, and what do you suppose happened to the dogwood tree?"

"Its leaves turned red/orange!" come the almost simultaneous replies.

"Yes," I agree, "its leaves turned red and orange. What about the evergreen tree?"

"It stayed green!" nearly all the children assure me.

"Yes, it stayed green. And once again it was wishing it could be like the dogwood and have pretty red leaves on its branches. It sighed sorrowfully to itself, and the wind picked up the evergreen's sigh and carried it to the dogwood.

"Living next to one another, the evergreen and the dogwood had become good friends. So, when the dogwood heard the evergreen's sad sigh, it decided to help its friend's dream come true. For the dogwood knew it would soon have to let go of its pretty red leaves.

"Patiently the dogwood waited until the wind was just right, blowing toward the evergreen. Then, it let go of its leaves and the wind carried them into the branches of the dogwood's green friend.

" 'Oh my!' the evergreen exclaimed with delight, looking down and admiring all its newly decorated branches. 'How beautiful I am with these wonderful red leaves you have given me! Why, I look like a Christmas tree covered with ornaments!' (You see, the evergreen knew the legend of the forest -- that very special evergreens sometimes get picked to become Christmas trees -- but that's another story.)

"After a while the evergreen looked up from admiring itself to thank its friend the dogwood and gasped at the dogwood's new appearance! It was BARE! All of its branches were absolutely NAKED! And winter was coming. 'Oh my!' the evergreen exclaimed! 'What will you DO? You're going to be so cold!'

" 'Perhaps I shall just go to sleep,' the dogwood replied and began to yawn. Very soon the first snow came. The evergreen shivered just a little but didn't find winter too terribly cold. It worried though about its bare-branched dogwood friend.

"As the snow built up on the branches of the evergreen it began to feel very strong, supporting all that weight. It also felt very beautiful again, looking down at its deep green branches set off by the sparkling white snow. But even that grew tiresome after a while. The evergreen missed its friend the dogwood.

"Slowly winter passed. Then one day the evergreen noticed bumps on the limbs of the dogwood. The dogwood almost seemed to stretch when its branches bounced in the gentle spring breeze.

"As it awoke, the dogwood felt a little afraid. But then it heard the evergreen singing as the wind sighed through its branches. 'I'm still here!' the song went. 'And I'm still as green as ever. Come on, dogwood; wake up! It's spring!'

"The dogwood found hope and joy in the evergreen's song, struggled awake, and began to open up its beautiful blossoms. The evergreen, who had been lonely while its friend slept, was so very glad to see the dogwood had survived the winter that it wasn't even jealous of the dogwood's spring flowers. It was simply filled with gratitude that this friend who had shared its beauty with the evergreen in the fall was waking up.

"And the evergreen realized that even though the dogwood looked very pretty sometimes, it wasn't necessarily any better to be a dogwood than to be an evergreen; it was just different. The evergreen also knew that it was happy just to be itself, there in the forest, growing with its friend.

"You know, in some ways people are just like the trees in this story. Sometimes we get jealous of how someone else looks and don't like our own appearance. But when we can let go of those feelings and enjoy just being ourselves, we have a lot to give one another. The dogwood gave the evergreen its red leaves in the fall because it loved its friend. And the evergreen gave the dogwood hope and encouragement with its song when the dogwood was waking up in the spring.

"As you go back to your seats, each of you may take one of these red dogwood leaves to remind you that, like the dogwood and the evergreen, you're really special just the way you are. And, like the trees, you have songs to sing and love to give just because you're you."