This week we light our 3rd candle in the advent wreath. We've lit two purple candles, and this week we get to light the pink one representing joy. Here's a devotion to help guide your conversation centered on the joy we have when we remember what God did for us at Christmas time. 

Invite everyone to share the difference between joy and happiness.

You might wrap us the conversation by saying something like this: 

Happiness Is External, Joy Is Internal

One of the very obvious differences between happiness and joy is that happiness tends to be achieved externally, while joy is something achieved internally. For example, we can feel happy when we receive something like a gift or achieve something like awards or honors. These things are external or belong to the surface of our lives. It is not something deeper but, rather, superficial.

Joy, on the other hand, is something deeper. It is something we feel internally in our lives as human beings. For example, when we feel great...

Hope is traditionally the first word we reflect on during advent. If you use colored candles for your advent celebration, hope is represented by one of 3 purple candles.

Here is a devotion you can do with your family to celebrate HOPE this advent season.

Ask: What does hope mean to you? Use hope in a sentence. (let everyone share) Share a time when something you hoped for happened, or didn't happen. 

Read Scripture: Ask 2 people to read these verses:

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Romans 15:13

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Teach: When the Bible speaks of hope, it's not the same as our kind of hope. We say, "I hope it doesn't rain!" And we know it might, and it might not. Our kind of hope is sort of a "wish." When the Bible speaks of hope, it is talking about being certain...

We're almost there. 

We've made our lists, checked them twice.

Put that elf on many a shelf.

And now we're counting down the last few days before

Christmas.

As Christian parents and grandparents, it's not only our duty but also our sheer delight to pour our faith into our children while they are young.

The world will give us some resistance, but in our homes we are kings and queens and we get to choose how we spend our time together.

Here are a few creative ways you can invite Jesus to be the center of attention at your celebration.

1. Read the Christmas Story. Before anyone pulls a bow off of anything read the Christmas story. For fun dress up the children and let them act the story out as you read it from the Bible. Luke 2.

2.  Let Santa leave a devotion to do together. If you are okay with the fun of Santa, put him in a place of worship so that your children understand that even Santa knows Christmas is all about Jesus. 

Show your children this picture.

And...