He was dress’d all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnish’d with ashes and soot;
Santa finally comes down the chimney, and we see he is dressed in fur to keep warm against harsh weather in the open sleigh.
As he passes through the chimney, he can’t avoid getting ashes and soot on him that have built up on the sides from lots of hot winter fires (one of my favorite things!)
In our home, we have a pellet stove. Pellets are small compressed wood cylinders.
You learn a lot about the burning process from having any kind of fireplace to heat your home.
Some pellets produce more heat because they burn hotter.
Others leave behind clinkers.
A clinker is a lump of fused impurities and dirt left behind from the burning process.
They would seem to be a normal by-product of burning pellets, and they are if you have low-quality pellets.
High-quality pellets burn clean and leave far fewer clinkers.
Clinkers fill up your burn pan and mean you are cleaning the fireplace more often. Yuck!
What does any of this have to do with the price of tea in China?
Christians should strive to follow God’s precepts in a life that glorifies him more and more each day.
No, we can’t escape the “ashes and soot” of life in this world marred by sin all around us and a sinful nature within us.
Luckily, the blood of Jesus washes us clean every day when we repent and turn from sin and put our trust in the living God.
When we are consumed with temptations and sin reigns within, these impurities in our life leave clinkers behind.
Broken relationships, broken trust, broken people, broken hope, broken dreams, and a broken future.
They choke out the the good and overtake our heart leaving little space for God to burn within us.
Our “burn pan” gets so filled with the clinkers of life that it can nearly extinguish the fire because there is no room left for it to exist.
The beauty of a relationship with Christ the redeemer is that when you kneel before him in humility, he gives you a clean heart, which burns clean.
The consequences of sin, the clinkers, don’t instantly disappear. We must lean on him to clean up our life and slowly repair the damage we have created.
If you haven’t turned to God and away from this world, trusting his Son as a substitute that pays the price for your sins, start a conversation with God today. He will always answer and desires to talk to you!
SURPRISE PRESENT
Let’s take the broken pieces in our life and make something beautiful…A MOSAIC!
Let’s start with some images for inspiration!
These mosaics are made from glass, found objects, and tissue paper, but you can get creative and use whatever you have available!
How about a button mosaic?
You could make ornaments, wall hangings, or small gifts for friends and family!
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What a clever use of resources! Shiny foil stars as mosaic pieces…I love it!
Mosaics do take time to create no matter what the medium, but so worth it!
What Christmas image would you do with foil stars?
These sweet gingerbread people would be great for pre-school kids. I would have some bright colors to add “candy clothes” to these guys and they would be perfect!
I really love this one! This is a great art project for older kids.
Notice the use of shading with the gradual change of color within the pieces of paper.
The window light on the snow outside is brilliant!
You could find a great piece of winter art and copy it in mosaic!
Above are some links to glass mosaic pieces which would be fun to experiment with!
This is just a lovely Christmas carol for you to enjoy~ See you tomorrow for day #18!