This Christmas season and all through the year I want so badly to focus on Jesus. I have been failing at that a lot, worrying and forgetting the wonder of God coming to earth as a baby. I know Christmas is not a biblical holiday but I really like the idea of using this time each year to remember Jesus birth and I love that it is a great way to teach my children the story of God coming to earth. I want to be doing this all throughout the year, not only at Christmas. It is special to me though, to have some special traditions that focus our family on Jesus during the Christmas season.
I have been starting some family traditions and continuing some. They have encouraged my heart so much and serve as reminders to me. One is doing advent candles. We light a new candle for four Sunday's leading up to Christmas day. This reminds us of the "light",(Jesus), that was promised and came to earth. As each week goes by and a new candle is lit we get more excited and more hopeful that a Redeemer will come. I like to try and put myself in the shoes of those who lived before Jesus came. They must have had such hope and at times hopeless and desperate feelings that God would keep his promise and bring a Messiah.
I love reading the beginning of Luke where the story pauses a little right when Marry is pregnant with Jesus and Elizabeth is pregnant with John. I like to think about how Elizabeth and her husband, Zechariah, must have been so excited and in wonder at what their child would become. It must have given them such hope that the Messiah was closer to coming. Here in Luke we can read, "And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”(Luke 1:8-17ESV) Then, when Mary goes to visit Elizabeth, Elizabeth receives the news that Mary is carrying the Messiah. Elizabeth exclaims, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” (Luke 1:42-45 ESV) They were both in wonder and awe of what God was doing and on top of it all, how God was using them in such an intimate way. The wonder and joy of this time that Jesus was here on earth but not quite yet must have overwhelmed those who had a glimpse of what was happening. I want, and want my children to try and think about what that must have been like. The hopes and fears of all the years were met in Jesus. His birth and life brought a gift that is greater than we can understand. God loved us with the most genuine and real love by becoming a man for us and then dieing to take our sins away, and then conquering death by rising from the dead and forever taking our shame and guilt and making us completely pure and perfect in His eyes.
Another tradition I started this year with Isaac is an advent picture story. I just made a new picture of the story for each week to hang up. The first one is Mary and Joseph marveling that Mary is with child and that Mary has Jesus in her womb. The second one is the shepherds hearing the news that Jesus has come. This Sunday we will add the wise men. Next Sunday we will add Mary and Joseph in the manger for the night, after finding out there is no room anywhere else in Bethlehem. The last picture will be of Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus. Isaac has enjoyed each picture so far:)
I saw this quote on a friends blog and it was such an encouragement to me:
"The season of Advent, a season of waiting, is designed to cultivate our awareness of God’s actions—past, present, and future. In Advent we hear the prophecies of the Messiah’s coming as addressed to us—people who wait for the second coming. In Advent we heighten our anticipation for the ultimate fulfillment of all Old Testament promises, when the wolf will lie down with the lamb, death will be swallowed up, and every tear will be wiped away.” ~Worship Sourcebook
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