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| I’m going to have James build me a Jesse tree like thisone to put in our living room. |
Every year before Christmas, since having a family, I try to find more ways in which we can incorporate keeping Jesus at the center of our celebration. This year, God really spoke to me about the Jesse tree after seeing it online. I am studying Isaiah right now in Bible Study Fellowship and we literally just read and studied Isaiah 11:1, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” I love the explanation this one website says for the Jesse Tree.
“So what do we need to do to honor God on this day (Christmas) as well as the season? Why did we, and still to this day, need this child to be born? Why was it so important for God’s Word to become flesh? The answers to these questions are woven through the Old Testament in God’s promises, prophecies and miracles. Focusing on these and working on a better understanding will greatly enhance your Christmas season and hopefully help you to abandon some of the materialistic traditions that are dragging you down. Traditions like Advent wreaths and Advent calendars don’t necessarily focus on why the birth of Christ was, and still is, so important. The Jesse Tree is a way to help children and adults get a better understanding of what and why we are celebrating. Jesse was the father of King David. The idea of the Jesse Tree comes from Isaiah 11:1-9, where God promises a discouraged nation that the glory they remember from David’s time will come again. They will have another king from Jesse’s family, in whose reign the whole earth will know God. As a Christian, we see that promise fulfilled in Jesus, and so we use a Jesse Tree and decorate it with reminders of how God prepared the world for that kingdom.” http://www.jesse-tree.com
I found this website from the Reformed Church in America that has devotionals for every day this Advent season with scripture (they start November 28th) and how to make the symbols/ornaments for the tree, (and if you don’t feel like making the ornaments, you can download and print the symbols they have online for free!) Click here to see the symbols and scripture passages for each day. Click here to print the symbols out. Click here for devotions every day for the Jesse Tree.
I’m really excited to start this Christmas tradition with my family and will post the picture of our completed tree after Christmas! My goal is that each day we make the ornament together, (they post how to do that here), then read the short family devotion that goes with it.
the paquettes 