An Advent Storybook and Study: Seeking Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
Copyright 2025 by Lūminé Press, Written by Elsie Lungren, Illustrated by Nicoleta Dabija
Day 25
“Merry Christmas!” said Mormor, looking at all of her grandchildren with love and excitement. “Today is an amazing day. The shepherds and wise men have arrived to meet Jesus and worship Him as the new King, and we will light the candle in the center of our Advent wreath. We call this the Christ Candle.”
“Mormor?” asked Astrid.
“Yes, little one,” said Mormor. “What are you wondering?”
“Do we have a birthday cake for Jesus?”
“That is a wonderful idea, Astrid,” said Mormor. “Perhaps we could ask your mother to put a candle in your piece of pie after our Christmas dinner. She usually has a choice of pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and apple pie. Which is your favorite?”
“They are all so good,” said Astrid. “I helped make them yesterday!”
“I can’t wait to try a bite of each!” said Mormor. “Let’s jump into our story and see the festivities going on in the stable. I have a feeling that Becca of Bethlehem has been making that place look as warm and welcoming as possible.”
Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus
“We need more space,” Becca Mouse whispered to the horse. “Can you push those bales of hay out to the back? Our guests can use them to sit on if they need to rest.”
Becca of Bethlehem was busy. The baby had been born. Guests were arriving. They had worked hard to clean the stable, decorate it with flowers, and provide harmonized music by a bird quartet. But she hadn’t anticipated the guests, and so she was scrambling to make sure all the barn animals were helping to make room.
Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar had been directed to the stable by Ian the Innkeeper. They were thankful that he had known of this baby being born, although he had been a little confused about him being called the King of the Jews.
The shepherds had followed two of their sheep, Shiloh and Asher, who for some reason as mysterious as the appearance of angels in the sky, knew exactly where to go!
“Becca!” squeaked Nettie of Nazareth. “Don’t worry. Come and join us as we worship the new King. Your cousins, Ethan of the East and Finn of the Fields, and I are excited that we can be together in the presence of the Son of God! Let’s just sit near Him.”
“You are right, Nettie,” said Becca. “I just wanted everything to be perfect. But now is the time to let our eyes be on baby Jesus instead of what the stable looks like!”
As the four mouse cousins settled in by Asher and Shiloh to rest in the presence of Jesus, the three wise men knelt before the child and presented Him with their gifts.
“Gold,” said Melchior, “as You are the King of kings.”
“Frankincense,” said Caspar, “as You are the Son of God.”
“Myrrh,” said Balthazar, “as You are the Son of Man.”
Ethan also stepped forward and lay his three remembrances at the feet of baby Jesus. “A zircon stone,” he said, “as You are perfect Truth. This stone reminds us that the Word of God created the world. God spoke, and it was so. The Word of God is Truth.
“A seed,” he added, “as you are perfect Goodness. After God spoke, there was life, and God saw that it was good. Inside this seed there is the beginning of a life, and it is good. This seed reminds us that God created people out of love, and He sent His Son, Jesus, out of love. God is Good.
“A sunflower,” he said, “as you are perfect Beauty. When God designed the world, He had an intelligent plan and purpose for everything. He created the sun, the star of our solar system around which every planet orbits. Just as the sun shines and radiates its rays to warm the Earth and to provide light energy which allows plants to create the oxygen for us to breathe, the Light of God’s Son shines and radiates from all on Earth who are filled with His presence, warming our hearts and giving us the energy to face every day without fear of darkness. God is Beauty.”
At that moment, the sun came from behind a cloud and shined its rays into the stable, washing baby Jesus in its light. With all eyes on Jesus, and feeling the joy of His presence, everyone sang, Away in a Manager.
Joseph spoke. “Dear friends, from the fields and from far away, thank you for seeking to be in the presence of this Holy child, the Son of God. Immanuel, God is with us. Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar, in your wisdom you are seekers of truth, and you find Truth here today. You excel at thinking. Shepherds, you are seekers of goodness with every action you take. You watch and are vigilant. You care for your sheep. You react quickly when your sheep need you. You excel at doing. We are also blessed by having angels, the messengers of God, here to celebrate this day. Angels burst out in song and light as their adoration of God is uncontainable. Their radiance and voices show the Beauty of God. You excel at simply being filled with God’s presence that cannot be contained. It pours out in Beauty.
“All of you today,” continued Joseph, “are showing goodness in your actions. Worshiping the Son of God. Giving gifts. Loving Him. These are actions that show goodness. We have also each received Truth, either from an angel speaking directly to us with a message from God, or from reading the Old Testament Scriptures that prophesied about this day. And here, in the presence of Jesus, with the radiance of His Light, we are in the presence of Beauty. As we leave here, His presence will go with us, staying in our heart, and be with us wherever we go. And that will give us great joy.”
And Jesus smiled.
Mormor looked around at the radiant faces of her grandchildren. “It must have felt so amazing to be in that stable with baby Jesus. I am glad that our ancestors, Nettie, Ethan, Becca, and Finn, were able to be there, and that their story has been passed down ever since when we retell it during this Advent season.
“By the way, when you heard Nettie’s comment to Becca, did that remind you of two women in the Bible?”
“Mary and Martha!” came several answers at once.
Mormor smiled. “Yes, Mary and Martha. Let’s take a look at that story which is shared in Luke 10:38-42.
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to Him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what He said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
“In that story,” said Mormor, “Martha wanted everything to be perfect for Jesus. Her intentions were good, but her hard work kept too busy to sit down and enjoy being in the presence of Jesus. Meanwhile, Mary just sat down near Jesus so she could be in His presence. Jesus said Mary made a good choice.
“In our story today, with Becca and Nettie, which one seems like Martha and which one seems like Mary?”
Astrid said, “I know. Becca is like Martha.”
“And Nettie is like Mary,” said Lukas.
Linnea added, “Becca was working so hard to make sure everything in the stable was as clean, as welcoming, and as comfortable as possible. She was thinking about what she could do for others. Her intentions were good.”
“But God also wants us to take care of ourselves,” said Annika. “And the best way we can take care of ourselves is to spend time in God’s presence. God wants to have a relationship with each one of us.”
“I agree,” said Theo. “If Becca spent all of her time working, and none of her time simply sitting near Jesus, then she is letting Him have a relationship with everyone except for her, because she is too busy. He wants to have a relationship with her, too.”
“Let’s remember,” said Mormor, “how much God wants us to be with us. He doesn’t want us to just make time for Him a few minutes each day, or on Sunday mornings. He wants to be with us all the time, no matter what is going on in our life. When we work on schoolwork, or when we are playing with our friends, or when we are practicing the piano, or when we are in the middle of a soccer game. God wants to know that He is welcome in our lives. He wants to have a relationship with each of us that is all the time, no matter what.
“Does the story of Mary and Martha, or of Nettie and Becca, mean that we never have to clean our room?” asked Mormor with a twinkle in her eye.
Everyone laughed.
“I wish,” said Lukas! “But no, I don’t think that’s what it means!”
“You’re right, Lukas,” said Mormor. “Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, ‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.’ That means there is time for working! What we can learn from Mary and Martha, and also from Nettie and Becca, is that we want to make sure we’re not so busy, even if we’re doing good work, that we don’t have time to just spend being with Jesus.
“Each of our characters got to experience being in the presence of baby Jesus. That must have felt amazing. And not only that, do you realize that each of them actually got to hear God, or His angel messenger, speak directly to them?”
“I didn’t think of that,” said Theo. “But you’re right. The wise men might not have known it in that moment, but they were to be visited that night, in their sleep, by an angel or by God Himself. That is when they would hear instructions to go home a different route.
“That means each person there, including Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the wise men, would have heard from an angel or God directly. That must be an experience that changes one’s life forever!”
“I agree,” said Mormor. “Today, with the Holy Spirit in our heart, which we often just say is Jesus in our heart, we are in God’s presence all the time. We can hear from Him directly any time. When we pray, or when we open our Bible and read, or when we recite a Bible verse that we have memorized, we are listening to or for God’s voice. What an honor this is that the Son of God, the King of Kings, the Savior of the world, the Prince of Peace, is with us all the time, no matter what. With both His presence and His love being unconditional and always trustworthy, we can feel joy indeed!”
“Let us sing together, ‘Joy to the World.’”
Reading:
Luke 2:16-20
16 So they [the shepherds] hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Matthew 2:11
11 On coming to the house, they [the wise men] saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Hymn and song options:
Away in a Manger: Published in 1885 (author unknown); music by James R. Murray in 1887.
Joy to the World: Written by Isaac Watts in 1719. Tune composed by Lowell Mason in 1848.
What Child is This
This carol was written by William Chatterton Dix in 1865. The music is the traditional English folk tune “Greensleeves,” which dates to the 16th century.
Go, Tell It on the Mountain (An American folk song that dates back to at least 1865, author unknown)
Get All Excited written by William J. Gaither in 1972.
Challenge song (for fun): Carol of the Bells
The English lyrics were written in 1936 by American composer Peter J. Wilhousky. The music was by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych in 1916, based on an older folk chant called “Shchedryk.”
Recommended album: Sunshine And Snowflakes – 40 Kids Singin’ At Christmas
By Light Records © 1973. The album (LS-5625-LP) was produced by Lexicon Music, Inc. and distributed by Word, Inc. The album is arranged by Clark Gassman and directed by Jan Gassman.
Republished as “Sunshine and Snowflakes (Digitally Remastered)” by Essential Media Group LLC in 2010 (made available by Apple Music and Spotify)
