Ten Days and Christmas Cards

Today begins our ten-day countdown to Christmas! In just a week and a half, we will be celebrating the birth and Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every year I wish I would plan ahead and celebrate each day of the Advent season, but every year the same busyness takes over. We have ten days, though, so part of this countdown will be a verse, a prayer, and perhaps even an activity.

There are plenty of great places to find verses for the Advent season,
but It's Overflowing created this simple list of verses that I will use.
I'm hopping in on the reading for December 15.

Today's Verses: Luke 1:5-13

⁵ In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. ⁷ But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.⁸ Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, ⁹ he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. ¹¹ Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. ¹³ But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.

My Prayer:
God, thank you for being a God who hears our prayers, just as you did with Zechariah and Elizabeth. Thank you for bringing hope even when life and situations seem hopeless. We pray that your hope penetrates the hearts and lives of all people, that they may know the fullness of your love in Jesus Christ.

Our Christmas activity today was finishing up our Christmas cards. (Yeah, I know, a little late.) I'll have to share the card with all of you later on in the week!