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A Revisited Devotional from December 15, 1997
Psalm 25:5 – Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. (NIV)
Traditions are those things that we do which reinforce our family's personality and link us with our past and our future. We see these traditions when we come to celebrate Advent and Christmas. It is because of our traditions that we have such a rich inheritance to pass on to our children. Our house has been no exception, and it's often the voice of one of our children that reminds me that we haven't done something yet.
It is so easy to get caught up with all the hype and the fuss surrounding Christmas that we lose our focus on why we are celebrating. This is why the Advent Jar has become a very important tradition in our house. The Advent Jar is a pint jar with a cup of shelled sunflower seeds and seven walnuts. The sunflower seeds represent all the things we need to get done for the Christmas holidays — Christmas baking, gifts to be bought and wrapped, cards sent out, and the list goes on. The walnuts represent the Advent preparations we would like to include, like a birthday cake for Jesus, time together around the Advent wreath, making things that would tell the story of Jesus birth, and the list only needs your own imagination. The interesting thing about the Advent Jar is that if you put the sunflower seeds in first, you will soon discover that there isn't room for the walnuts, but if you put the walnuts in first and then pour the sunflower seeds in around the walnuts, they all fit in! Everything fits when we keep our priorities in the right place!
Having our Advent Jar around during the Advent Season reminds us what Christmas is about, and it helps us to join in with the psalmist to say that God is our Saviour and that the waiting or hoping of Advent is central to the Christmas message.
Prayer: O God, our Saviour, we give You thanks for the hope we have during this Advent season. We thank You for the many traditions which help us to remember what is really important, but most of all, we thank You for the gift of Yourself, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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THANK YOU.
Thanks Ruth, blessings.
Christmas celebrates God’s gift, Jesus our Saviour. It also celebrates love and fellowship with family, friends, community.
Thank you for sharing this encouraging devotional with today again.
Blessings on your Christmas season. In Christ’s name.
Good Morning Ruth.
Nice to see your devotional again.
Trust you are keeping well.
Thank you for writing this devotional.
Memories in a jar.
To remind us what advent is all about
Blessings.
Good morning, Ruth
That is so true, God first and we are blessed! Love the Advent jar!!
God bless.
Hi Ruth,
Just read your post on the Presbyterian Devotional page. What a lovely idea! I think the Advent Jar could be a useful tool all year long.
Thank you.
Hi Ruth,
What a cool thing to do!!
Is it the deac coming out of you?
Seriously!
I was *just* remembering a banner I made. I used onion red mesh as a heart.
Thank you, Ruth, for your “past written” devotional today. It was interesting to read about the tradition of the “Advent jar” and its special meaning in your family. Truly Advent season brings to mind special meanings and memories in our lives and most importantly our love and reverence of our Saviour. Blessings for writing.
Good morning, Ruth,
This is a new concept that I have not heard of before. A visual reminder of remembering what to do at Advent – the things that are important to our faith and remembering that Jesus came to save us and give us hope. Thank you for sharing a tradition of your family and the reminder that traditions are important. Blessings.
Hello Ruth!
I loved your example about the Advent Jar. So true!
We had a beautiful lead into Advent on Saturday morning, November 30 at Church for ladies, called “Refresh”. Our “half time pastor” was leading the service at her other half time ministry down the road.
The Pastor left the white Christ candle out of the advent wreath on purpose, telling us that Christians and unbelievers get so caught up in their business and their understanding of Christmas, that Christ, the Messiah, the Emmanuel, is left out! God’s greatest gift has to be in the centre of our lives to experience all the other wonderful gifts of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love!
God bless you and family in BC.
Merry Christmas!
(ON)
Thank you, Ruth, for this interesting practice. It sounds simple, yet is a visible reminder of what’s important.