Friday, December 2, 2011

The Jesse Tree


Advent Is Here!
And there are so many wonderful, fun ways to celebrate this season anticipating Christ's birth. Over the years, our family has done several different activities to try to keep "The Reason For The Season" in the forefront of our minds during the month of December. I have learned though, that the simpler the activity, the better it is; and the more likely that we will follow through all the way to December 24th!

My family discovered a fun, simple, and meaningful Advent activity last year that I would love to share with you.....THE JESSE TREE.


What is a Jesse Tree? And....who is Jesse?

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 ornaments that are reminders of how God prepared the world for that kingdom, from the creation of the world to the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Your Jesse Tree can be as simple or ornate as you wish. Last year (which was the first year we did this), I just drew a tree on a poster board and printed out ornaments that I found on the internet and my kids colored them. Each night, after dinner, we would read a devotion and bible verse (I also found these on the internet) and then put that day's ornament on the tree. This year, I found a small foam tree at Target and we will use that. It can also be as simple as using branches from your yard! You choose!

If you Google "Jesse Tree", you will find several free online resources to use as a guide. There are also kits that you can buy, but it's just as easy to use the free resources you can find online.

There are several to choose from, but here are some to start with:

http://www.crosswalk.com/special-coverage/christmas-and-advent/from-adam-to-jesus-the-jesse-tree-tradition-11641703.html

http://www.jesse-tree.com/

http://www.shalfleet.net/advent/makeajessetree.htm

Ann Voskamp (author of "One Thousand Gifts") also has a beautiful Jesse Tree devotion and ornaments for free if you subscribe to her online Journal, A Holy Experience. http://www.aholyexperience.com/




Whatever Advent activity your family chooses, my wish for you is that it will remind you daily of the reason for our celebration on December 25th and help you to anticipate celebrating the best gift that we could ever receive!



HAPPY ADVENT!
"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him - the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord - and he will delight in the fear of the Lord." Isaiah 11:1-3

2 comments:

  1. Hi Karen, I love your link above for verse of the week. I'd like to put something like this on my blog....I'm now following you (better look behind you....lol)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Salina. I just put a link to my blog on yours. Thanks for making it so easy to do that! I love yours too! I'm looking forward to being Blogging Sisters in Christ! :)

    ReplyDelete