How is this even possible?!
Where, oh where, has the year gone?!
As time flies by, I am trying my best to SLOW DOWN this holiday season.
I am working to be intentional about keeping JESUS the center of all that we do, remembering that HE is the reason for all the celebration in the first place.
I do, however, want my girls to grow up with special traditions, ones that they carry on and do with their children some day.
We have our Advent Jar, with 25 strips of red, green, and yellow paper. Each strip has an activity for us to do, be it fun or serving others in some way.
This morning, Coralyn pulled out the first strip and the girls immediately got excited about Family Time later tonight.
I love that I don't have the strips numbered, and each day will be a surprise even for me. If the girls pull out a strip that we can't do that day or need to do on a certain day, we will just put the paper back and get another one. I am looking forward to all the fun times we will have together, all the memories we will make. I even more excited about the opportunities the girls will have to give back, to show Jesus' love. I want, more than anything, for them to grow up with BIG hearts. I want them to SEE needs around them and then DO something about them. I want them to experience God's love and peace and hope and joy and strength personally and then go and take it all with them everywhere they go, every day.
More than holiday traditions, I want them to remember JESUS.
I want them to be filled with awe as they think about Him coming to earth as a baby.
I want them to be overwhelmed with His love and grace and mercy and goodness.
I want Jesus to flow in and throught and OUT of them.
This is why I started a new tradition last year. I made a string of ornaments, each with a letter of the alphabet. We start December 1, and each day we look at a different name of Jesus. We talk about WHO He is and how that should affect the way we live today, and every day.
Today, we started at the beginning with A.
Jesus is the ALPHA AND OMEGA, the beginning and the end.
He always has been and always will be.
He is always with us and will never leave us.
We can trust Him.
We can follow Him wherever He goes because He knows the way.
After reading our verses and singing a song, the girls decorated arrows to help us remember that Jesus is with us from start to finish.
I hope this journey through the alphabet helps us learn more about Jesus and draws us closer to Him. As we get to know Him, I pray we reflect His character, from head to toe, from A to Z!
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