The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp

Advent is a time of waiting and preparing. Ann helps us do that by using the Jesse Tree (with ornaments you can make from her website). For each of the 25 meditations, there is a photo of an ornament, a Scripture reading, a meditation, a reflection, a quote, and questions for reflection.

Ann starts at the beginning – Genesis. She shows our need for a Savior. She continues by relating Old Testament stories to the coming of the Messiah. She includes Abraham, Isaac and laughter, Isaac and God providing a ram, Jacob and the ladder, Joseph and thin places, the ten commandments, Rahab, Ruth, David, Elijah, Jonah, Bethlehem, Esther, Zechariah, John the Baptist, Mary, and then … God with us!

Ann's beautiful prose and thoughtful reflections cause us to pause and think on the miracle of Christmas. This is a book to be savored as we prepare our hearts anew for the coming of the Savior.

Food for thought:

“Advent is made of the moments.
This slow unfurling of grace.” (5)

“The message of Christmas is that this world's a mess and we can never save ourselves from ourselves and we need a Messiah.” (139)

“We can always have as much of God as we want.” (233)

“It cost Him everything to be with you.
Who will spend a fraction of time just to be with Him?” (235)

Ann Voskamp is a writer with Dayspring, a contributing editor to Laity Lodge's The High Calling, and a global advocate for the poor, traveling for Compassion International. Ann and her husband are farmers in the countryside of southwestern Ontario, raising half a dozen kids, crops of corn, and the roof in praise. Follow her daily blog at www.aholyexperience.com.

Tyndale House Publishers, 263 pages.