Advent: 2 December

Jesse Tree Activity

Our activity today was to make a paper plate world. Zoë was very keen to get the green and blue paint out, but I was a little hesitant to make that much mess on an already busy day so managed to convince her to use felt tip pens. We had great fun colouring and sticking fish, birds and animals onto the world. Caleb didn't quite get the idea but he joined in by eating the pencils!!

24 Books

Our book today was "That's not my snowman"; one of our favourites! Zoë sat for ages 'reading' it to her little brother. Aww!

Lolly sticks

Now this was a fun activity as we went to visit the local Winter Wonderland Grotto with some friends. When we arrived Zoë snuggled up too me and said 'Mummy, it's beautiful!' as she gazed at the twinkling fairy lights and moving animals. She then whizzed round in super high speed before slowing down and going back and forth to explore the bits in between. Caleb seemed to be less impressed; maybe he'll be a Scrooge like his father!

Jesse Tree Story

Tonight's story was from Genesis 2 and the creation of Adam and Eve; "God made people". Caleb and I missed it as he was exhausted having boycotted his afternoon nap in favour of playing with his sister's cars. We'll get the label drawn and hung in the morning before Zoë heads of to preschool.

Mummy Time

It's time for bed now and my daily reading. Night all!

Advent: 1 December

Now that Zoë is 3 and is really starting to grasp the idea of 'waiting' and 'celebrating' we decided to make a little more effort in Advent. So, we're trying a few different ideas:

Advent Box

I'd seen loads of ideas of Christmas Eve Surprise Boxes with a film, mugs, PJs etc and loved the idea, but we go to a Christmas Eve Carol Service so it wouldn't work. So I adapted the idea and created an Advent Box. Yesterday lunchtime when Zoë got home from preschool with Daddy we opened our Advent Surprise Box. It contained Christmas crockery, DVDs, CDs, toys, cooking book, new Christmassy PJs and a new (child-friendly) decoration. It was amazing watching the excitement in their faces as they discovered different items.

Russian Doll Nativity Set

24 wrapped books 

I've wrapped up all our Christmas books and we're opening and reading one a day over Advent. This is seriously going to teach Zoë about patience as she's so eager to open all of them NOW! Today's book was 'Santa is coming to Aylesbury'. I wonder what tomorrow's will be...

Lolly Stick Activities

I'm slightly addicted to Pinterest and loved the idea of Advent Activities which kept popping up on my feed, so I sat down one evening a few weeks ago and wrote a range of activities on some colourful lolly sticks. On Sunday Zoë and I selected some for this week. Today we bought a present for a disadvantaged child

Jesse Tree

Zoë is not having a traditional advent calendar and no chocolates either. Instead we're developing an idea we came across last year called a Jesse Tree which uses Advent to summarise the story of Christmas from creation, through the genealogy of Jesus and to his birth on Christmas day. Last year we used a reading schedule based on The Jesus Storybook Bible, but it was too grown-up for Zoë and she quickly lost interest. So this year we're writing our own... Each day has a reading, a 'picture' for her and us to draw on a label to hang on the tree, and an activity to do. (As we will do our reading at dinnertime the activity will be done on the following day.)

Today was our first day and we read the story of creation - "God made the world" - and Zoë drew a snake and a cat, and Daddy drew a tree! Tomorrow's activity is to draw a world on a plate.

Family advent

As well as doing advent things with Zoë and Caleb, I'm also aware that I need to slow down during this month and get my heart focused on the real meaning of Christmas. To ensure this happens I've got some candles out and (when the children are in bed) I am lighting them, and I am reading an Advent Devotional book by John Piper called The Dawning of Indestructible Joy. I'm looking forward to reading this when up in the night feeding Caleb!

Each day I'm hoping to share some thoughts from the Jesse Tree, 24 Books and Lolly Sticks.

Genesis 2:18-20 - Suitability

Can you imagine pairing a human with an elephant, or a horse, or an ant? They're just not suitable helpers for a human; they can't supply the support needed!

In this passage in Genesis God has noticed that Adam is alone and that this is not good - there is a lack of completeness and something needs to be done. Adam needs a helper. The word helper is used in a few other places which will help us to understand that Adam's need is not for someone to do the washing up but to strengthen him and support him:

• Psalm 121:2 - "My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." - the help God provides in a crisis
• 2 Kings 14:26 - "The Lord has seen how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave or free, was suffering, there was no-one to help them." - the help given by an ally in war

In his hunt for a helper Adam names all the animals; this helps us to see how Adam is ruling over them whilst being under the rule of God.

A while back I promised you the Narnian account of the creation of the animals. As we consider the naming of the animals I thought it was a suitable time to do so...

Can you imagine a stretch of grassy land bubbling like water in a pot? For that is really the best description of what was happening. In all directions it was swelling into humps. They were of very different sizes, some no bigger than mole-hills, some as big as wheel-barrows, two the size of cottages. And the humps moved and swelled till they burst, and the crumbled earth poured out of them, and from each hump there came out an animal. The moles came out just as you might see a mole come out in England  The dogs came out, barking the moment their heads were free, and struggling as you've seen them do when they are getting through a narrow hole in a hedge. The stags were the queerest to watch, for of course the antlers came up a long time before the rest of them, so at first Digory thought they were trees. The frogs, who all came up near the river, went straight into it with a plop-plop and a loud croaking. The panthers, leopards and things of that sort, sat down at once to wash the loose earth off their hind quarters and then stood up against the trees to sharpen their front claws. Showers of birds came out of the trees. Butterflies fluttered. Bees got to work on the flowers as if they didn't have a second to lose. But the greatest moment of all was when the biggest hump broke like a small earthquake and out came the sloping back , the large wise head, and the four baggy-trousered legs of an elephant. And now you could hardly hear the song of the Lion; there was so much cawing, cooing, crowing, braying, neighing, barking, lowing, bleating, and trumpeting.

Genesis 2:15-17 - Good and evil

Provision: Man was made to rule over the fish, birds and living creatures, but to live under God's rule. Eden is a picture of the kingdom of heaven: blessing under God's rule. It's the present privilege and future destiny of Christians.

Purpose: Our purpose is found in showing God's likeness by ruling the creation under us.

Prohibition: 'The knowledge of good and evil' is to presume to decide between right and wrong independently of God. This leads to death as it separates us from God and puts us in opposition with him.

Romans 12:2 says  ^"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will." We need to pray for obedience to what God's words says is right and wrong.

Pursuing righteousness (Jan/Feb)

"But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness."

1 Timothy 6:11 (verse for 2013)

For the first two months of the year I was pondering the first part of my verse for 2013; ‘pursue righteousness’

What is righteousness?
The dictionary defines righteousness as the quality or state of being righteous, so what is righteous?
1. characterized by uprightness or morality: a righteous observance of the law.
2. morally right or justifiable: righteous indignation.
3. acting in an upright, moral way; virtuous: a righteous and godly person.
Righteousness can also be described in the following way:


Who is righteous?
Romans 3:10 tells us that ‘no-one is righteous’ yet James 5:16 tells us that ‘the prayer of a righteous person has great power’. But Psalm 11:7 says “For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds/justice; the upright shall behold his face.” And 2 Corinthians 5:21 goes on to say “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
In ourselves we are not righteous because we are not morally upright and without guilt or sin, but through Christ’s death and punishment for our sins God sees us as righteous people.

How can I pursue righteousness?
Righteousness cannot be earned (Galatians 2:21) but once I have accepted the gift of righteousness from God I need to ‘put it on’ on a regular basis:

• Ephesians 4:22-24 – You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
• Ephesians 3:13-14 – Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place…

It also comes through discipline:

• Hebrews 12:11 – No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

And through prayer:

• Philippians 1:11 – And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.

What will the effects of pursuing righteousness be?

• The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence for ever. Isaiah 31:17
• Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. 2 Timothy 4:8

There is so much more that I could say on ‘pursuing righteousness’, so many other verses and passages that I haven’t even mentioned, but I need to move on to ‘pursuing godliness’.

Genesis 2:8-14 - Eden

I am always totally stunned by the beauty of creation when I go to the Alps; the power and magnificence of the mountain ranges, the beauty of the alpine flowers, the richness of the colours and smells, the freshness of the air. This picture doesn't really do justice to it, but it's a close attempt!

God is an artist as well as an architect and builder; he has created beauty as well as practicality. In the beginning God created the garden of Eden to show what the world was intended to become under mankind's care; it was a show garden which was home to trees that were 'good for food' and 'pleasing to the eye'.

But Eden was more than a show garden; it was a testing ground, where man's obedience to God would be tested and where issues of eternity would be decided. Later in the Bible we come across another garden when another man's obedience to God are tested to the farthest limits and issues of eternal life were decided. (More on this when we look at Genesis 3:6-7.)

For now the future is bright; there is abundant water and a land ripe for exploration and enjoyment. Although we live in a fallen world, there is still so much beauty and abundance for us to enjoy.

Genesis 2:4-7 - Second time around...

This second account of the creation of the world is not a contradiction to the account found in Genesis 1; it is a closer look at the details. If you're musical like me then the explanation in my Bible reading notes (Explore) will help:

Genesis 1 could be described as an overture, which Genesis 2 is like individual musical 'movements'.

In this account of creation the focus has shifted onto the man's world - that bit for which he will be responsible. Creation is waiting:

Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground... (Genesis 2:5)

Waiting for man... Who is now created from the dust; but not just dust... God breathed life into him.

Heavenly Father, thank you that I am fearfully and wonderfully made by you.