Day 0: Even the Rocks Cry Out

BLOG SERIES: The Birth of Jesus—Obedience leads to Blessings

Years ago, when I first began walking with the Lord, I was so thirsty for His Word. His Word gave me comfort. His Word gave me peace. His Word gave me hope. His Word gave me encouragement. I wanted to read all the stories and memorize all the scriptures. I wanted to write His Word everywhere, especially on my heart. And I wanted to share Him with others, especially with those who were like myself just a few months prior. So I began painting rocks and writing verses on them. For hours I would spend time in the Word, finding verses that spoke to me and transforming old gray rocks into works of art. I would leave them everywhere I went—in a plant at the post office, at the foot of the crosswalk button, on the seat at an outdoor café. I left a little color, a little encouragement, and a lot of the Gospel everywhere I went.

With Christmas about a month away, an idea came to me. If these rocks were teaching me scripture and helping me to memorize it, maybe they could help me and my daughters to really learn the story of the birth of Jesus. Maybe I could develop a Christmas tradition centered around Jesus—a tradition that points us to Him and His Word daily. I began studying the gospels of Matthew and Luke, looking for 25 key points that detail the story. Then, knowing how visual I am, and how my daughters were so young they were unable to read, I began drawing primitive images to represent 25 important events in the story of Jesus’s birth. I placed each rock, marked with a visual and a scripture reference, in a muslin bag to be unwrapped one day at a time.

And for 4 years now, we have found such joy in opening these rocks and recounting the story of His birth. What pleasure it brings me to see my girls, now 4 and 8, able to summarize the main ideas of scripture and even recite some word for word. What a blessing it is to know that they are writing His Word on their hearts at such a young age.

Today I decided I wanted to share some of this beautiful tradition with you, my dear friends and readers. So, given that it was already December 13, I aimed to make a shorter countdown. As I began studying the scriptures yet again and working to represent them graphically through memes, I gave thought to the words in type and the words in script. I gave thought to where the emphasis should be placed. And as I was 3 images in, I realized God was revealing a pattern to me—obedience and blessings.

I hope that you’ll join me for the next 14 days as I reveal verses from the story of Jesus’s birth and highlight how acts of obedience led to blessings. I hope that you will be blessed when you make room for this daily devotion and that it’ll draw you closer to our precious Savior.