Rediscovering Christmas ~ The Angel and Mary

On Monday, the kids and I started our Rediscovering Christmas activities. As promised, we read in The First Christmas by Francine M. O'Connor about Isaiah's prophecy and Mary's encounter with the angel(s) and how they related to the birth of Christ. Then we read the account of Gabriel's visit to Mary in the One Year Children's Bible.

Our activity for the day was making "stained glass" angels. I drew a pattern on black construction paper and cut it out. Then I put a sheet of clear contact paper on the cutout, with the sticky side UP. The kids and I tore tissue paper into small pieces and they stuck it to the contact paper. When they were done, we added another piece of contact paper to that side and trimmed around the circle. With a hole punch and a piece of yarn we made it into a hanging stained glass work of art.

We are going to give these to my two grandmothers who will LOVE them!

To end our time together, I printed off a color by sight word lesson from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom. The kids colored the pictures according to the key. Yesterday they wrote sentences using those sight words (it was also part of the printable).

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I also spent some time meditating on the encounter between Mary and Gabriel. I am reading out of The Christmas Story by G.A. Myers.

Little 'ol ordinary Mary gets shocking news from the angel that she will bear the Son of God. But, if you read scripture, it doesn't say WHEN it will happen. How did Mary know that it would be now? How did she know to immediately put two and two together that she was a virgin and was not capable of conceiving a child yet. How did she know?

I think it was trust. I think Mary was so engrossed in God that she just KNEW that when He spoke to her, He was calling her NOW. She knew Him well enough that she knew what He wanted from her and when. She didn't take the time to justify the timing, to try to talk herself out of it, or (worse yet) to try to talk God out of it.

Oftentimes in my life I think I hear from God, but am unsure what to do with the information I receive. Perhaps if I trusted God fully, and knew his ways completely, then I would act immediately upon His words knowing they were for me, for now. If I trusted him completely, maybe I would just do what He wants, when He says to do it, instead of trying (and usually succeeding) in talking myself out of it, or (worse yet) trying to talk God out of it.

Mary's ordinary life was what revealed to her this extraordinary calling from God. Am I humble and pure enough to really hear God when He is talking to me? Or have I elevated myself to a place where I really can't hear Him for the noise I am creating for myself? Something to think about this week. The humbleness, purity, simplicity, and willingness of Mary is something to ponder.

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Did you do a Rediscovering Christmas activity this week? If so, feel free to link up below. Or if you have a comment about the adult meditation, or something else, feel free to comment on this blog post. Also go to Shannon's blog to see what her and her girls have been up to. I'll be back on Friday with the supply list for next week's activity.

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