The Jesse Tree

We have been celebrating Advent at my house this year by reading through “The Jesse Tree”. For those of you unfamiliar with this, The Jesse Tree is 25 is a book with 25 short readings leading up to the Jesus’ birth. Each reading has a symbol associated with it in the form a Christmas ornament. Each night before bed, the kids get to put that night’s ornament on the tree (with Mom’s help of course), while I read the Bible verse and the short story.

While there is nothing ground breaking about the stories, it has served as a good reminder for me of the incredible tapestry of events leading up to the birth of our Savior. I think it is important to remember that Jesus’ story didn’t start on Christmas, or even with the appearance of an angel telling Mary about her pregnancy. Rather, all history conspired towards that one singular event. It is pretty humbling to know, that an infinite God, would take the time to shape history in the most finite of details just to bring us to him through his son.

This realization has changed how I think about the Advent Season. The 25 days of Advent leading up to this Christmas seem trivial in light of 2500 years or so leading up to the First Christmas.