{The final Advent candle}

First off, a little disclaimer! 


 It is tradition to light the fifth candle on Christmas Day, which is what we do in our family. However, when posting on the Advent candles, I like to do this on the Sunday following Christmas Day. This way, each candle has its own day. And so we light the fifth and final candle today...

This last candle is the most important, and this is the Jesus candle. By lighting this last candle we recognize that His coming is the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning Him. 
 

I love this symbolism! On the first Sunday of Advent, we lit the prophecy candle: remembering the many times it was foretold that a Messiah would come to us, for us.

Now we find we have come full circle, from the promise to the fulfillment of every one of those promises! And we have just that in Jesus Christ! 

Down to the last detail, He met the criteria for what was told of the coming Messiah, from His birth to His death to His resurrection.

"Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed."   

~Isaiah 53:4-5

Below is a song that touched my heart so much, I wanted to share it with you here...







Thank you for joining me for the lighting of the fifth candle of Advent! {And Happy New Year to you!}

Blessings,
Jenni

Celebrating Advent {The Third Candle}

Happy Sunday to each of you! I hope it was a lovely weekend for you as well. :)

Today is the third week of Advent, and I finally got my little Advent arrangement put together. I say arrangement rather than wreath, because it isn't exactly in wreath form this year! 

I saw something so gorgeous on a friend's blog that I had to replicate it. With all my heart...Deborah made a lovely and unique combination of moss and Advent candles in a clay pot. You can see Deborah's here, on her blog banner...


 She simply used earth {dirt} in the bottom of the clay pot to hold the candles, which I thought was such a brilliant idea! I was kind of lame, and and couldn't convince myself to go outside to do it...Brrr! I ended up using a floral foam wreath, which I cut up into sections and arranged in my container to hold my candles. {I was using what I had on hand, but if I were to buy something for it, I'd have chosen regular flat styrofoam that I could have cut into a circle, and poked the candles through that...}

I did as Deborah had done, and added moss to the top, tucking it all around the candles...

 

I used a little galvanized metal pot for mine, because I was shopping at home! ;)


So, there you have it: Deborah's amazing idea for an Advent candle display {wreath}!


And now the candles are ready to be lit...Dim the lights...We light the first and second candle again. Then the third...{But if you are like me, you might get carried away and accidentally light them all! Oops!}

The third candle is The Shepherd's Candle.



"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. And angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." ~Luke 2:8-14

Oh, how I love the Shepherd's Candle! How surprised they must have been when that choir of angels appeared in the dark sky! And they didn't hesitate for a moment, hemming and hawing over whether or not to believe what they'd heard, or to do as the angel had said. They hurried to see the baby Jesus. Yes, maybe they were lowly and humble~ not at all those we'd imagine God would pick to tell such amazing news! But maybe this is just how He would want us to be: open and soft-hearted. Able to accept and trust that yes, this baby born that night is our Savior, Christ the Lord. 
 T

While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around,
And glory shone around.

“Fear not!” said he, for mighty dread

Had seized their troubled mind.
“Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To you and all mankind
To you and all mankind.

“To you, in David’s town, this day
Is born of David’s line
A Savior, who is Christ the Lord,
And this shall be the sign,
And this shall be the sign.

“The heavenly Babe you there shall find
To human view displayed,
All meanly wrapped in swathing bands,
And in a manger laid,
And in a manger laid.”

Thus spake the seraph and forthwith
Appeared a shining throng
Of angels praising God on high,
Who thus addressed their song,
Who thus addressed their song:

“All glory be to God on high,
And to the Earth be peace;
Good will henceforth from Heaven to men
Begin and never cease,
Begin and never cease!”

 Thank you for lighting the third candle with me! I hope you have a wonderful night!

Blessings,
Jenni

Celebrating Advent {The lighting of the candles}

It has become a tradition in our family to light the candles on the Advent wreath each Christmas season. There are five weeks of Advent, and each week we light a new candle. We like to light them at dinner, while we sit around the table. As we are eating, we talk about what the week's candle means, and I share the Bible verse for that candle.

Sharing this on my blog has also become a tradition, first on my previous blog, and now here at Beautiful Nest. I hope you enjoy lighting the candle with us each week! 

{It is true I am one week behind schedule, for last weekend I was unable to post due to our home renovation! So hopefully you will not mind us lighting two candles tonight! I am also late in putting our Advent wreath together, so we are using simple candles for the first two candles this week! Next week, I will have our Advent wreath ready!}

The First Candle of Advent: The Prophecy Candle

"For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
~ Isaiah 9:6

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee,
O Israel.
O come, Thou Dayspring,
come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
O come, Desire of nations, bind
All peoples in one heart and mind;
Bid envy, strife, and quarrels cease;
And fill the world with heaven's peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
Amen.

The Second Candle of Advent: The Bethlehem Candle

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Isreal, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."

~Micah 5:2

The Bethlehem Candle is one of my personal favorites...Why? Because out of all the places for the King of creation to be born, God chose a small, seemingly unimportant town. Inside this town was a typical stable, and this is where Jesus Christ was born.


Imagine that! The Son of God, the King of kings, born in an everyday barn! And yet, in fact, everything God does here seems to fly right in the face of convention, or at least our ideas of what should be. An ordinary young girl wraps her firstborn son in pieces of cloth and places Him in a feeding trough...Common, lowly shepherds in a field witness angels in the sky, chosen by God to be the baby Jesus' first visitors...

It is the story we have heard so many times, so often it can too easily lose its extraordinary meaning.

I just love how, over and over again, God does the unexpected!  


O Little Town of Bethlehem

O Little Town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie;
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.

How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him, still
The dear Christ enters in.
Amen.

{I hope you all have a good night, and a beautiful Monday!} 


Blessings,
Jenni

The Last Candle of Advent

Hi friends! I hope your Christmas was a truly wonderful one! :)

Today is the final Sunday of the Advent season, where we light the very last candle. This candle is the most precious and sacred of all~ it is The Christ Candle.

"And the Word became flesh, and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

~John 1:14

What Child is this, who laid to rest, On Mary's lap is sleeping?

Whom angels greet with anthems sweet, While shepherds watch are keeping?

This, this is Christ the King,

Whom shepherds guard and angels sing:

Haste, haste to bring Him laud,

The Babe, the Son of Mary.

Why lies He in such mean estate Where ox and ass are feeding?

Good Christian, fear: for sinners here The silent Word is pleading.

So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh, Come, peasant, king, to own Him;

The King of Kings salvation brings, Let loving hearts enthrone Him.

This, this is Christ the King,

Whom shepherds guard and angels sing:

Haste, haste to bring Him laud,

The Babe, the Son of Mary.

~Words by William C. Dix (1837-1898)

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him."

~John 3: 16-17

Thank you so much for celebrating Advent with our family this Christmas, and for letting me share the lighting of each candle with you!

Merry CHRISTmas to each of you!

Blessings,

Jenni

Advent: The Fourth Candle

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Today is the fourth week of Advent, which brings the lighting of the Angel candle. I love how, as the weeks go by, the candlelight from our little wreath grows~ as if signaling that as the birth of Christ draws closer, the light shining through the darkness grows brighter.




This week, I had each of our children light a candle. Don't worry, I was standing right there with them, and for the younger two, handed the lit match to them. The funny thing, we ended up doing them all out of order so they could light the ones they wanted to! It made me laugh because this is so our family~ it's always a little chaotic and out of order around here, no matter how hard I try to keep it organized!

Our son lit the first candle, which in this case was really the third candle of Advent!



Next to light a candle was our oldest daughter, and for some reason I only got a picture of her hand! This was not intentional, because I wanted a picture of each of them. Oh well, at least it is on video, too!




Gracie dressed up again for the occasion. As with last week, this was completely her own idea!



Then she apparently tired of being an angel by the time it was her turn to light the candle, and changed back into her comfy sweats!


{The Angel Candle is lit}

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace on whom his favor rests."

Luke 2: 13-14


It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth,
goodwill to men,
From heaven's all gracious King":
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come,
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
O'er all the weary world:
Above its sad and lonely plains
They bend on hovering wing:
And ever o'er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.

And ye, beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing:
O rest beside the weary road,

And hear the angels sing.



Thank you so much for joining me as we lit another Advent candle!

Blessings,

Jenni

Advent: The Third Candle

Lighting The Shepherd's Candle

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly hosts appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace on whom His favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

Luke 2: 8-15

O Come, All Ye Faithful

O come, all ye faithful, Joyful and triumphant. O come ye, o come ye to Bethlehem!

Come and behold Him, Born the King of angels!

{O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him.

O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord.}

O sing, choirs of angels, Sing in exultation! O sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!
Glory to God, all Glory in the highest!

{O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him.

O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord.}

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, Born this happy morning! O Jesus, to Thee be all glory given;
Word of the Father, Now in flesh appearing!

{O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him.

O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord.}




{The Prophecy Candle, The Bethlehem Candle, and the Shepherd Candle all lit this week.}

Here is my youngest daughter Gracie, who decided to dress up for the occasion as a Shepherd. (With a baby blanket and a sparkly pink stretch headband, no less!) I just thought this was too cute not to show you! :)

I hope you have a good night~


Many blessings,

Jenni

Advent:The Lighting of the First Candle

Do you celebrate Advent?

{Two years ago, we as a family began the Christmas tradition of celebrating Advent. Each Sunday night of the Christmas season, we light a candle on the Advent wreath~ each candle with its own name and meaning. This is something we do in church each Sunday, but I wanted to do it at home as well. I have shared this on my "Nest to Keep" blog both years, but wanted to share it here at Beautiful Nest this year. For next week, I will have my Advent wreath unpacked and set up. I am still rummaging through the Christmas decoration boxes, so we have a makeshift candle this week.....}

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{The first candle is the Prophecy candle.}

When we light this candle, we are in anticipation of Christ's birth. We remember that, long before He came, God gave His promise~ the promise of a Savior who would truly change the world. No longer would we live separated from God by our sin, and no longer would death have the last say.

"For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
~ Isaiah 9: 6

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

And ransom captive Israel,

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear.

{Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel

Shall come to thee,

O Israel!}

~Words: Latin, c. 12th century; Music: Plain song, v. 13th century

**********************

Normally I will do these Advent posts on Sundays. Due to sickness, I had to postpone this one!

I hope you all are having a wonderful week so far, and thank you so much for coming by!

Blessings,

Jenni