One day the woodcutters came along and cut down the first tree. "Let's make it into a cattle stall," they said. "But I don't want to be a cattle stall," cried the tree. "I want to be a baby's cradle." But they turned it into a cattle stall. And when the child Jesus was born, they laid him gently in the cattle stall, for there was nowhere else to put him. And the tree said "Why, this is far, far more wonderful than ever I dreamed."

The woodcutters said of the second tree. "Let's make this tree into a fishing boat." But the tree said, "No! I don't want to be a fishing boat. I want to be a great ship, carrying treasure and precious stones." But they turned the tree into a fishing boat and put it on an inland lake. And a fisherman called Simon Peter bought the boat, and Jesus sailed in the boat and taught people from it. And the tree said, "Why, this far, far more wonderful than ever I dreamed."

And of the third tree they said, "Let's make it into a cross." But the tree said, "I don't want to be a cross a thing of shame where men die. I want to stand on a hilltop and point people to heaven." But they turned the tree into a cross, and Jesus was nailed to that cross.

And all down the years men have looked to that cross and it has pointed them to God.