The Jesse Tree

Our church recently kicked off Growing Graduates. It is a partnership between the church and parents "to inspire our next generation to be fully devoted Christ-followers before and after graduation".

JD recently wrote about how we as parents should be living a life we want our children to imitate.

This Christmas season I want LilE's focus to be on Christ. The lights, music, food, presents, and parties are fun stuff. I enjoy them immensely, but do I want that to be the focus? If I am to show her that Christ is the focus, He really does need to be the focus in my ACTIONS, not just my words.

This year we are implementing something new into our home for Christmas. A Jesse Tree. I previously posted about it at Today's Housewife. If you missed it there, you can keep on reading (although I did make a few changes).

What is a Jesse Tree?
The Jesse Tree is based on Isaiah 11:1, "A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots." It is one way to teach my child the lineage of Christ, starting at the creation of the world until His birth. It also shows how all of God's promises have been fulfilled.

Each day an ornament, corresponding with the devotion (i.e. creation-earth or sun; Joseph-colorful coat; David-slingshot, harp or crown), is placed on a tree or banner (or however you want to display it in your home). The ornaments can be homemade or store bought.

What devotions are you using?
I found these devotions for parents. I skimmed through them and really like them! It is an in depth devotional for the parents that corresponds with kids/family devotion. The parent devos are online free right now. The family devos are sold here. I will say I do not like the last few days and therefore have tweaked them to what I feel is important for our family.

I also found this blog. I like that this mom took her daily plan and included readings from The Beginner's Bible and The Big Picture Story Bible.

My goal is to share the stories/verses we use as well as the ornaments we make each week.

What if I don't want to spend money and I want to do it this year? Is it too late?

It's definitely not too late. As I mentioned earlier, you can make your own ornaments (using felt) or cut out these coloring pages and punch holes and hang with yarn. Since I got such a late start, we are going the coloring pages route this year. Plus, my daughter LOVES to color. Hobby Lobby has their ornaments on sale this week for 50% off, so I may head over there and pick up a few that will meet our needs and then hit up some other stores after Christmas. And over the course of the next year I may find/make all that we need. (At least that is the plan.)

When you first started you mentioned Growing Graduates. What does this have to do with a Jesse Tree?

One segment of GG is to have the Mind of a Scholar. I am the one responsible for leading my child in family devotions. She is to see me in the Word and talking about the Word.


When I began reading the Parent's Devotional this jumped off the page:

When the resurrected Jesus met discouraged disciples who had not yet learned of the resurrection, he encouraged them with a lesson in christological interpretation of the Old Testament:

"Then Jesus said to them, "You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn't it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?" Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself...Then he said, "When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said, "Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem; 'There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.'" (Luke 24:25-27, 44-47)

The Old Testament pointed forward to the person and work of Jesus Christ. And failure to read it that way is a failure that Jesus even calls "foolish" and a failure of faith (v. 24). We definitely want to teach the faith to our children, and we believe we can do that from all the scripture.

Powerful words! Is a Jesse Tree the only way to teach my child to have the Mind of a Scholar? Of course not. But this year my family is planning to use this method to celebrate the coming of the Christ child.

What are you doing to teach your children this Advent season?