In preparing this year for Advent, I researched the purpose of the season and many ways to celebrate Advent.  I decided to focus this Advent on the names and attributes of God – helping my family learn more about our Lord and Saviour, preparing our hearts to celebrate the birth of Christ, and allowing us to press closer into Him through knowing Him more intimately.

Ever since this post from Amanda (2 years ago!), I have had the idea of a mini Christmas tree in the back of my mind.  And when I started thinking about Advent this year, a miniature tree seemed to fit the bill… part Advent calendar, part new family tradition…

Remember this sneak peek that I gave you a couple of weeks ago?  I made mini-ornaments for our little Advent tree, adding a name or attribute of God to each one.  Each day, we’ll hang a new ornament on the tree, read some verses associated with the name, and do a craft or activity to help Elias and Donovan learn more about God and prepare their hearts for this special season.

We started with the name and attribute Almighty.  The Merriam-Webster dictionary defined “Almighty” as God.  Praise the Lord!  It also said that “Almighty” means having absolute power over all.

One of God’s names in Hebrew, El-Shaddai, means “God Almighty.”  God who is all-sufficient and all-bountiful—the source of all blessings, fullness, and fruitfulness – is also all-powerful and worthy to be praised!

Some verses that we read about God as Almighty are…

Genesis 49:22-25

²²“Joseph is a fruitful bough,
A fruitful bough by a spring;
Its branches run over a wall.
²³“The archers bitterly attacked him,
And shot at him and harassed him;
²⁴But his bow remained firm,
And his arms were agile,
From the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob
(From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
²⁵From the God of your father who helps you,
And by the Almighty who blesses you
With blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

Psalm 91:1
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 Corinthians 6:18
” And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” says the Lord Almighty.

Revelation 1:8
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, ” who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

When I think of the Almighty power of God, I think of the stars – the amazing might of the One who created such beauty and such power in themselves!  So we made a star for the top of our Advent tree… I glued popsicle sticks together to form a star, and Elias set about decorating it with glitter glue.

I used a heavy-duty craft glue (E6000), and I’m glad I did.  This star has already taken a beating, and there’s no sign that it’s coming apart at all.  I also “clamped” the star together with binder clips while the glue was drying – again, I’m glad I did that, because the star shape was shifting all around and popping apart where the popsicle sticks were not touching each other directly.

When the glitter was dry, we topped our little tree with Elias’s star, and we hung two others that we made in the window with the tree… and we have a visible reminder of our Almighty God!

*

I am already loving our Advent tree – it is in our dining room, which we use for all meals, and is frequently played in throughout the day.  Elias and Donovan are quite smitten with it – lots of “Oooo’s” and Ahhh’s”, and I overheard Elias explaining to Donovan how God made the stars in the sky, just like he made the stars on top of the tree.

God is ALMIGHTY!

*yes, that is Mary and Joseph in the school bus… and apparently the 3 wise men were waiting to be picked up, too.