Intentional Advent: Day 7

I have been enjoying reading various passages from Isaiah this past week. One verse that stuck with me was Isaiah 11:1.

“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.” (NIV) We now know that shoot was Jesus Christ!

It created a picture in my mind that I’ve continued to mull over. Have you ever had to cut down a tree? We have. If a tree has gotten sick or has mostly died, or has become so large that it’s become a danger of damaging the house.

I’m not enough of a theologian to understand why or how the tree of Jesse became a stump, but the image of that shoot coming from the stump is so meaningful! I can’t think of a better image of HOPE. In something that seemed to have no life, life still grew! Not only did it grow, but it bore fruit!

Maybe you have something in your life that, for whatever reason, has been cut off and appears only to be a stump. If God is involved, He can still bring life from that stump! Not only can he bring life, but that life can bear fruit!

How can you apply it to your life? If you’re a creative, like I am, try drawing out the image. Draw your stump and then draw a shoot coming up out of it. Write down all the words that come to your mind around it. God brought HOPE into the world, and He can bring HOPE to your life!

Let’s reflect on this picture of HOPE and carry it with us as we go through this Advent season.