Jesse Tree - Day Twenty

This will be our last Old Testament ornament for our Jesse Tree. After this we will spend the next four days on the birth of Jesus.

Our ornament today: A mirror...because God's word is a mirror. And it shows us what we are like...which isn't always nice.

Then the girls painted a heart on it with their initial on it because when God sees them he loves them, no matter what they have done.

We read a little about Nehemiah, Malachi, and Ezra. And a final Old Testament thought from The Jesus Storybook Bible...

"Have you ever been to a party that lasted a whole week? How about a sermon that went on all day? Well, that's what happened to God's people after they came home from being slaves. They had forgotten how God wanted them to live or who they were supposed to be. So Ezra and Nehemiah read them the rules God had given Moses.

But something odd happened: the more they sermon went on, the sadder they all got. Why? Was the sermon that boring? No, not really. It was strange, you see. As Ezra read the book of rules, it worked like a mirror. It showed them what they were like, and they didn't like what they saw. They saw that they had not been living the way they should. They saw they were cruel and selfish.

"We've blown it," they cried. "Now God will punish us!" They thought they knew what God was going to do. But they didn't. Of course, they might have picked up a clue from Ezra's name, which means "Help is here!" And an even stronger one from Nehemiah's name, because his name means "God wipes away our tears." And that, as you'll see, is just exactly what God was getting ready to do."

Sorry no photos for our next ornament. But we did hang a star on the top of our tree! We read about Bethlehem and the girls are very excited to be reading from the Christmas story!