Sawyer is such an amazing little girl, if I do say so myself. She has such an inquisitive nature and has always been really interested in learning. On top of that, her memory is absolutely incredible. She’s been memorizing scripture ever since she was about 18 months old and she has well over 50 verses committed to memory right now. We are careful to foster these things in her and to fill her mind with things worth remembering – thus the Jesse Tree.
The Jesse Tree is our version of Christmas advent calendar. I love this season as much as anyone and while I’m completely game for baking cookies and making ornaments and having fun experiences, I also want her to really get WHO we’re celebrating and WHY. So, while we definitely do those things, we attempt make our main focus JESUS.
Each night, we take an ornament piece, a person in the lineage of Christ, and learn about them and how they are tied to, and point to, Jesus.
Jesus was promised by God to His people long before He was born. In Isaiah, we read that Jesus would be a “shoot,” like a new sprout that grows on a bush or tree, from the family tree of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David, a great king of Israel, and Jesus was born 1,000 years after Him. The tree starts at creation and points to the coming of the Messiah with each story.
I feel like she learned quite a bit last year, but this year she has just amazed me with how much she’s taking away from every scripture. And? It’s good for her mom and dad, too. In a world that has watered down the true meaning of the mass of Christ, it’s so good to reset our focus on HIM.
You can find quite a few different versions online if you want to do this at your own house – which I highly encourage. We got this pattern from a woman at our old church back in Denver and it has served us well so far.
I pray you keep your minds and eyes and ears and hearts attuned to One whom we celebrate this season..the shoot of Jesse, that bears new fruit…
Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—
yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
He will delight in obeying the Lord.
He will not judge by appearance
nor make a decision based on hearsay.
He will give justice to the poor
and make fair decisions for the exploited.
The earth will shake at the force of his word,
and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.
He will wear righteousness like a belt
and truth like an undergarment.In that day the heir to David’s throne
will be a banner of salvation to all the world.
The nations will rally to him,
and the land where he lives will be a glorious place.