The 10 Leaping Lords

"On the 10th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 10 lords a leaping." It's early in the morning on Christmas Eve, and I have so much to do, I need some leaping lords at my beck and call. And they sure better be ready to do some leaping--to deliver presents, to start cooking for tomorrow, to finish up those inevitable folks I always forget, and, how about folding and putting away those 4 loads of laundry? Yes, we could use some leaping lords right about now in my house, and I'm hoping that between the lords and those 8 milk maids, we can get it all done by tomorrow morning! (and to my dear children--MAMA NEEDS SOME HELP RIGHT NOW!! ahhh, I feel much better.)

The lords at the time this song was written in England were judges. So the 10 lords symbolized the Ten Commandments given to Moses--and to all of us--to enable us to live righteously and blessedly. So often we want to see God's laws as things we can't do, as limitations on our freedom and our fun. But it is just the opposite! God knows that His ways will always bring us blessing and joy and peace. He gives us His laws out of His love for us, because He wants us to have the fullest, most abundant lives possible. Apart from His Word and His ways, I would be miserable and meandering in a fog of self-indulgence that would bring ever lessening pleasure and ever increasing pain. Imagine the world without God's moral law--the violence, the selfishness, the chaos, the hatred, the mayhem. Who could live in such a world?

So today, I thank the Lord for His Word and for His laws. And I thank and praise Him for sending Emmanuel who has enabled us to keep His law. I am certainly incapable in any way to obey. I have always loved the story Allen Redpath told of what God expects of you. "What does God expect of you?" Redpath asked. We would think, well, He expects holiness and obedience and kindness and love.... Redpath then answered his own question with "All God ever expects of you is failure." Well, shoot, I can do that! I can meet God's expectations--I've proved that over and over again! But then Redpath went on, "All God ever expects of you is failure. But He's given you His Holy Spirit that you need never fail."

Without Christmas, there is no Holy Spirit. There is no way to obey God's laws. There is no way to avoid failure. But because of Christmas, God came and ultimately sent us His Holy Spirit so that we can do in Him what we can never do on our own. Thank You Lord for Your perfect Word and Your Ten Commandments. But thank You especially for sending Jesus so that we need never fail in living the obedient, abundant, blessed lives You want for each of us. O thank You for coming! To God the Law Giver and Christ the Law Fulfiller be all the glory.

Dance to the Manger

"On the 9th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 9 ladies dancing." Now that's what I'm talking about! I love to dance--even though my children all make fun of my less than stellar technique. But isn't that one of our jobs as moms--to embarrass our children?

With just a few days left before Christmas, I must confess that my dancing ways and attitude are suffering. I am more staggering, rather than dancing with joy, to the finish line of Christmas Day. Forgive me Lord! If ever there should be a time of unbridled joy for a believer, it is the days of Advent as we anticipate the celebration of our Savior's birth.

Help us, Lord, to rejoice with the shepherds as they heard the Angel's astounding announcement of the birth of Emmanuel. Help us to run with jubilation to the manger, rather than worry about our "sheep" and all we have to do in our fields. Help us to cast aside our to do list, our fear, our pride, our selfishness and kneel down and worship the Babe of Bethlehem. Help us to dance to the manger this Christmas.

Back to the 9 ladies dancing--they symbolized the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. What a gift this fruit of the Spirit is for all who believe! Have we thanked Him? Are we walking (or, in this case, dancing) in the Spirit so that this fruit will be manifested in our lives? I'm so thankful I don't have to manufacture joy and peace and kindness and the like. I'd be a miserable failure if I did--the harder I try, the more I fail.

But praise God, He produces the fruit as we walk with Him. Galatians 5, which describes this fruit of the Spirit, repeatedly emphasizes walking by the Spirit. In 5:1, for instance, we're told "walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." Or 5:25 "If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit." We don't create the fruit any more than we create a sunrise or a blue heron or a majestic oak tree. Only God can create. But as we walk along, we can experience the beauty of His sky and His creatures and His creation. And as we walk, we discover in the wonder of His creation true joy and peace. He creates; we experience as we walk with Him.

At this glorious, but hectic, time of the year, might we walk--not run or rush--by the Spirit. Might we take the time today to go with the shepherds to worship at the manger of our newborn Savior. Might we take the time to meditate upon all that God has done for us in Christ and be like Mary who "treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart." (Lk.2:19) Might we, with the shepherds, be quick to glorify and praise God for all we have seen and heard this Christmas.

Who needs to hear it? Surely that exhausted store clerk or discouraged single parent or lonely senior or frantic friend... or maybe we just need to be reminded. At Christmas, He came. He is here now. He has given us His Holy Spirit. With His Spirit is fullness of joy and peace and patience and kindness... And He will never ever leave us or forsake us. So it's time to dance! Will you join the shepherds in dancing to the manger? To God be the glory.

8 Milk Maids

"On the 8th day of Christmas, my true love sent to me 8 maids a-milking." Where are those maids?! I need them NOW! Forget the milking, girls! Just start cleaning up and throwing out the clutter. That would be my husband's dream Christmas--8 people indiscriminately throwing out our clutter--with me unable to say "No! Stop! I think we might need that! Don't throw that away!"

But I digress (again). When this song was originally written, a woman who milked cows was considered to have the poorest and worst job in all of merry old England. The Lord Jesus, however, came to save the lowest of the low (and the highest of the high). His gift of salvation is freely available to anyone and everyone who believes, and no one can be too lowly or insignificant or sinful to enjoy His gift of abundant eternal life. He came even for the milk-maids... and the prostitutes and the death row inmates and the insane and the elderly lost in a fog of dementia. He came as a baby to poor, common, uneducated, working class teenagers. Born in the midst of the dirt and excrement of animals. None is too humble or lowly or undesirable for His redemptive love.

The 8 maids a-milking represent those who are blessed according to Jesus: those who are poor in spirit, those who are mourning, those who are meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who are merciful, those who are pure in heart, those who are peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. Those who are bent with care or worn out with sorrow or devoid of hope or frightened by the unknown future or lonely and bereaved. Those for whom life has brought them down low. They are the ones who can kneel humbly before the manger and find in it their Savior, their joyous Redeemer, their source of true blessedness.

I'm thinking right now of some friends who are being forced to wade through mighty deep waters. I cannot imagine their pain... O but my Savior can. He knows. He feels. He strengthens and blesses even in the darkest of days. In the words of Betsie ten Boom, while in a German concentration camp in World War II, "No pit is so deep that His love is not deeper still."

Deeper even than the pits of loneliness and betrayal and illness and death and despair. Deeper than the pits of our pride or selfishness or hatred. Deeper than the pit of a Roman cross on a windswept hill overlooking Jerusalem. His love is deeper still. Far far far deeper still.

So today, whatever your sorrows, your failures, your fears, your inadequacies, His grace and love and mercy are infinitely greater and better and more powerful. Might He who blesses the lowest and the weakest, put a song in your soul even if there is sorrow in your heart.

He is able. Boy, is He able! (Eph. 4:20-21) And His name is Jesus. To our Savior and Redeemer be all the glory.

The Brave Little Boy

"On the 7th day of Christmas, my true love sent to me 7 swans a-swimming." More birds. But I love birds, so I say, keep 'em coming! These 7 beautiful, graceful birds represent the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit: prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading, and compassion. (contrary to my husband's assertion about his own gift--"strong opinions" are not actually a gift!).

I thank the Lord for giving us all gifts--and we do all have at least one of these gifts. What a reminder, however, that we are called simply to use to His glory whatever gift He has given us and NOT compare or complain that we don't have some different gift. We are so prone to grumble about what we don't have rather than be grateful for what we do have... and then act upon our gratitude by using that gift for our gracious God. So thank You Lord for all Your many gifts. Might we use them one and all to the glory of our Lord.

On an only tangentially related note, how I thank the Lord for the gift of music! My daughter just gave me a CD by a singer named Andrew Peterson, and he has a Christmas song that I just love called "Gather Round, Ye Children:"

Gather round, ye children, come

Listen to the old, old story

Of the power of death undone

By an infant born of glory

Son of God, son of man

Gather round, remember now

How creation held it's breath

How it let out a sigh

And it filled up the sky with angels

Son of God, son of man.

So sing out with joy for the brave little Boy

Who was God, but He made Himself nothing

Well, He gave up His pride and He came here to die

Like a man

Therefore God exalted Him

To the place of highest praises

And He gave Him a name above every name.

O might we sing out with joy this Christmas--and every day of our lives--for the "brave little Boy who was God but made Himself nothing" and "came here to die" so that we might live forever with Him. Isn't that our source of joy at the coming of Jesus? He came, not as a King or mighty conquerer or an intimidating Potentate but as a "little boy," as a tiny, vulnerable infant. Just incredible--God Almighty as a newborn. And He came not to dominate or destroy or defeat mankind but to die. To die that we might live. To die in order to dominate and destroy and defeat the powers of satan and sin and death.

Today, praise the One who came--praise our God who made Himself nothing in order to give us much. Join with the angels to adore Him. To the Brave Little Boy, the Almighty God, the Savior, be all the glory.

Our Creator Savior

"On the 6th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 6 geese-a-laying." hmmm, I'm seeing a poultry pattern here. Fine by me, since chicken is our go-to meal. How many ways can you prepare boneless chicken breasts? You'd be surprised... the possibilities are nearly infinite.

But I digress--sort of reflective of my brain at this time of the year, I'm afraid.

The 6 eggs symbolize the 6 days of creation--the 6 days when the world was "hatched" by God. What a gift is God's creation, and what a clear reflection of our Lord's love of beauty and creativity and glory. I think He just loves to sometimes cause us to be overcome with wonder and amazement! How can you look at a sunrise and not be awed? How can you breathe in the verdant scent of the evergreen tree and not be thankful? How can you watch the hawk soar or hear the Canadian Geese calling or feel the cool breezes blowing and not be overwhelmed with the goodness and grace of our Creator? How can you glimpse the heavens and not declare with David, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge?" Ps.19:1-2

Look around you today and rejoice at the extravagance of Your Almighty Creator. And then rejoice that Your Creator has come. He who made the heavens and the earth invaded His own creation in order to redeem those He had made... including you. Might you love and praise the One who made all and who came to save all. To our Creator-Savior be all the glory.

The 5th DAY

"On the 5th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 5 golden rings." O boy, we come to the one verse we can always seem to remember. How many times have I soldiered through this song, kind of mumbling the words to the 9th, 8th, and 7th days that I can never quite recall, and then blasting out "5 gooooolden rings!"

Other that being a nice, slower respite in the middle of the song, the 5 golden rings also carries the significance of being an extremely precious commodity. Gold was, and is, very expensive and valuable. The number 5 symbolizes the first 5 books of the Bible, which are valuable and dear like gold. Again, we are encouraged to see the precious treasure we have in God's Word--both the Old and the New Testaments. God's very words breathed onto the pages of our Bibles we may hold in our hands and take into our hearts. Thank You Jesus for being our Word and for giving us Your Word.

You know, it's funny, as I have contemplated these 12 days of Christmas, I heard on a Christian radio program the story of a young mother who was diagnosed with brain cancer and died just a few weeks later. She was in perfect health, with 3 young children, and after complaining of a severe headache, went to the emergency room and learned she had an aggressive form of cancer and had only a short time to live. She lived exactly 17 days. I couldn't help but think about the value of each day. The 12 days of Christmas. The 17 days of a young mother's life.

We all have only a set, predetermined number of days to live on this earth. The question is not the number, but how will we live them? Will we live them to the glory of God so that each day becomes an eternal treasure? Or will we waste this day, frittering it away in anger or indifference or irritation or in some selfish pursuit of acquiring more "stuff" or gaining some short term pleasure or even in being busy busy busy but not fruitful. I am so prone to being a Martha and trying to get it all done (and then growing exasperated and discouraged because I never can) rather than being a Mary and resting in His love. If I would just daily choose to be a Mary first and rest in Him and His love then He would enable me to be a Martha and accomplish all that He has called me to do--and do it with joy and peace rather than frenzy and frustration.

Our days are infinitely more precious than gold. Each day is a gift from our Heavenly Father, and we don't have any idea how many He will give us. If you knew you had only 12 more or 17 more, what would you do differently? How would your attitude change? How would you enjoy and savor Christmas differently? Something tells me I would not be stressing out over whether I had remembered all the teacher's presents or worrying about what I am going to cook for all the many meals coming up next week or wasting time and energy on all the dumb stuff that can drain away my peace and joy.

I would be making much of my Savior... not making much of my to do list. I would be glorifying the One who came down so I could go up... not glorying in my accomplishments or my busyness. I would be savoring each moment with my loved ones... not surfing the web for one more present. I would be rejoicing in the birth of my Lord and worshipping my King... not working feverishly and worrying and wasting.

So right now, I could be getting those gifts ready to be delivered, cleaning up my house, or folding laundry. But instead, I am sitting in our living room, listening to joyous Christmas music, contemplating the wonders of Christmas and gazing at our colorful Christmas tree. A tree alight not just with the glow of the lights but with all the homemade ornaments from the children, old ornaments from my dear parents and aunt Janie and grandparents, and from my husband's sweet parents and from his childhood. And as I sit, I simply thank the gracious, glorious Savior who came and who has given us so many Christmases to savor and remember and worship the Babe at Bethlehem. I thank Him for my loved ones who came before and have gone on home to be with Him and are truly "home for Christmas." And I thank Him that He has given me one more day to love Him and love those He has placed in my life.

The 5th day of Christmas. How will you use this day He has given you? Might we use each day to glorify Him with all that we are and all that we have and all that we do and say. To God be the glory.

Four Calling Birds

On the 4th day of Christmas, my true love sent to me 4 calling birds." Another bird! What's the deal with that? I have no idea why the first 4 days are all birds, but I do know birds are remarkable creatures and incredible examples of God's wondrous creation.

The 4 calling birds symbolized the 4 Gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, as well as the entire story of Christ's life contained in each of the Gospels. What an amazing gift we have in God's Word. Might we never take it for granted. God's eternal, supernatural Word that has the power not just to guide us and teach us but also to change hearts and lives. I think of the countless numbers of brave men and women who gave their lives for God's Word and for the Gospel and am humbled and convicted by my sometime cavalier attitude towards the Bible. We have Bibles of every shape and size and translation at our house. But do we read the Word every day with as much eagerness and hunger as we do with our food and meals? Help us to hunger for You and Your Word, Lord, more than anything else that this world can offer us.

Pretty simple and basic, but then, that's what it's all about, and it starts with spending time in His Word. Chuck Swindoll once wrote: "To be used by God. Is there anything more encouraging more fulfilling? Perhaps not, but there is something more basic: to meet with God. To linger in His presence, to shut out the voice of the city and, in quietness, give Him the praise He deserves. Before we engage ourselves in His work, let's meet Him in His Word...in prayer...in worship."

The holidays are busy, I know, but we need to push aside the constant demands and expectations, and choose, daily, to spend time meeting with God in His Word. The 4 calling birds are calling you! Will you choose to meet the Author of the Universe today in His Word so He can teach and convict and encourage and empower and love you? He gave us the Word, and He is the Word. What could be more important today? To the eternal, powerful Word be all the glory.