Katie Emanuel blogs at Wonderfully-Made.net

Growing up, Christmas was wondrous. Lights, trees, ornaments, decorations, presents, parties, and Santa all culminated in Christmas morning surprise when the fire was lit, carols played, and presents abounded.

Christmas felt magical and I savored every moment of the Season.

As time passed, though, I began to worry more about making sure each person in my life had a gift to unwrap, than giving gifts as fruit of the true Joy of the Season. I became so focused on maintaining the magical, that I lost sight of the Miracle:

For unto us a child is born…And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)

As this Christmas Season approached, I felt a stirring in my heart to recenter focus on the Miracle of Christmas, and as my focus began to shift I wondered: What if, instead of focusing on filling the base of our tree with presents and paper, ribbons and bows, we filled its branches with our prayers? What if we gave our hearts to God this Advent Season to magnify His greatness? What fruit would our tree bear?

So this Advent, as we prepare for the coming of Christ, we have made our Christmas Tree into an Advent Tree – a tree filled with the prayers of our fellow men, which we will offer to the Lord on Christmas Night.

Will you give us the gift of adorning our tree with your prayers? The joy of praying for you and your loved ones this Advent Season? The honor of offering your prayers to Jesus on Christmas Night?

To participate, simply follow the instructions below, and don’t forget to share with your friends and family!

1. Email your prayer (of thanksgiving, need, special intention, or whatever is on your heart!) to wmpsalm139[at]gmail.com.

2. We will then transcribe your prayer onto a beautiful card from Fleur de Letters and hang it on the Advent Tree

3. On Christmas night, we will offer the prayers to God and celebrate the Joy that He brought to the world on the Holy Night of Jesus’ birth.

We hope you will join us this Christmas Season and share the Advent Tree with all your friends and family! We would love to have the opportunity to pray for you and to adorn the tree with your prayers.

Love and blessings to you and yours this Advent Season. We can’t wait to share the beauty of the Advent Tree!

For more on the Advent Tree, visit Wonderfully-Made.net. You can also follow The Advent Tree on Instagram and Twitter #projectadventtree.