After the little girl had put her burnt sock ornament on the tree, the rest of the group sat in silence for a few minutes. They were thinking about what the little girl had reminded them, that Jesus being born as a baby is the real meaning of Christmas. Each of them thought about what kind of ornament they would put on the tree.
After a few minutes the woman who was around thirty years old did an unusual thing; she took off one of her shoes, took off the sock, and then put that shoe back onto her bare foot. She got up and went outside. She was gone for quite a while, and the rest of the group wondered what she was doing. When she returned to the shack, she was carrying the sock. The top of the sock was tied shut, but it was bulging full of something. It was also very dirty and smelled like smoke!
The woman apologized for taking so long, and then explained that her sock was full of ashes. She did not want the sock to catch on fire when it was on their Christmas tree, so she had to search until she found cold ashes that would not start burning again.
The woman hung her sock on the tree and then sat down and started to cry. After she was able to talk, she told them that when she was a little girl she used to go to Church, she learned about Jesus, and she especially liked the Christmas story when Jesus was born as a baby in a stable. Looking back, she realized that those days were the happiest day of her life so far. She never actually accepted Jesus into her life because she had big plans! She wanted to become a millionaire!
When she grew up and went to college, she decided that she was going to start her own business and have a great career, and she did just that! She spent all her time making money and getting ahead in her job. She eventually started her own business and was an amazing success! She became a millionaire, and everyone wanted to be her friend! Sadly though, she almost completely forgot about Jesus because she was too busy. The only time she even thought about Jesus was at Christmas and Easter, those were the only times she went to Church anymore. She did not go to Church at those times because she loved Jesus, she went because people were expected to go to Church at those times.
Yesterday she had watched her business burn up! She had lost everything, and she did not know if she could ever start over again! Everything she had worked so hard to get was now just ashes!
Today when she had filled her sock with ashes, it took a long time. As she put the ashes in the sock, they crumbled smaller and smaller, it seemed like she would never get that sock filled. While she was filling the sock, she had time to think; just like her sock was filled with a lot of ashes, her life was filled with a lot of mistakes.
The man came over and sat by the woman and opened his Bible to Ephesians 2:8-10
God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good thing He planned for us long ago.
The man told the woman that even though she had ignored God’s forgiveness her whole life, God still loved her and was waiting patiently for her to give up the things that kept her from God. The fire had shown that the things that she had loved so much did not last. Only a new life in Jesus will last! The baby that was born in that stable was Jesus, who was God and human. He lived a perfect life and gave up that life as a sacrifice to pay for our sins! It is not too late to be forgiven! Any person can be forgiven by believing in Jesus and giving their life to Him. They need to pray and ask Jesus to come into their life and forgive them.
The man reminded the woman that if she let God take control of her life, that God has a plan for her life. That plan might be to rebuild the business that burnt down, or it might be something even better! The important thing is that the woman has a relationship with Jesus! The woman said that she was going out for a short walk, she needed to spend some time talking with God!