God sent Jesus to this world as a shoot from the stump of Jesse. Most people do not think of much when they look at the shoot. But it is exactly what Christmas is about; Jesus came into the world as a baby in a manger. Yet this small tiny baby would grow up to change the world, to fundamentally change the history of mankind forever. There is always hope even when there is only a stump. We might have stump like disappointments with life having not turned out as we wanted, but there is always hope in Jesus. He is waiting to take root in each of our lives if we let him.