{"id":16254,"date":"2013-12-15T00:01:08","date_gmt":"2013-12-15T06:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=16254"},"modified":"2013-12-14T23:56:31","modified_gmt":"2013-12-15T05:56:31","slug":"twelve-days-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/12\/15\/twelve-days-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Twelve Days of Meaning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/gchcarolsbloggraphic.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15999\" alt=\"gchcarolsbloggraphic\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/gchcarolsbloggraphic.jpg\" width=\"568\" height=\"298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/gchcarolsbloggraphic.jpg 568w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/gchcarolsbloggraphic-300x157.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I am going to admit that I never really thought much about the song &#8220;<em>The Twelve Days of Christmas<\/em>&#8221; until I was sitting in church one morning. I never really considered that each of the twelve things could have certain meaning\u2014a bigger, broader, spiritual meaning.\u00a0 Consider the following meanings as you listen to this song.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/T-cjK3f87jI\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Since we all know that the stanzas repeat themselves and grow as each day is added, I will only refer to the last stanza:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em><span style=\"color: #831f3b;\">On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me:<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #831f3b;\">Twelve Drummers Drumming<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #831f3b;\">Eleven Pipers Piping<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #831f3b;\">Ten Lords a-Leaping<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #831f3b;\">Nine Ladies Dancing<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #831f3b;\">Eight Maids a-Milking<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #831f3b;\">Seven Swans a-Swimming<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #831f3b;\">Six Geese a-Laying<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #831f3b;\">Five Golden Rings<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #831f3b;\">Four Calling Birds<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #831f3b;\">Three French Hens<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #831f3b;\">Two Turtle Doves <\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #831f3b;\">and a Partridge in a Pear Tree<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The <em>twelve days<\/em> of this song refer to the twelve days that start on Christmas Day.\u00a0 If you notice, the song repeatedly says &#8220;&#8230;<em>my true love sent to me<\/em>.&#8221;\u00a0 The true love is that of the love that we receive from God. His first gift to us is the partridge in the pear tree, or His only begotten Son, Jesus. He loved us more than we could ever know and sent His Son to save us.<\/p>\n<p>So as to not leave the entire stanza out, days 2-7 mean many things:<\/p>\n<p>Day 2:\u00a0\u00a0 Two Turtle Doves: The Old and the New Testament<br \/>\nDay 3:\u00a0\u00a0 Three French Hens: Faith, Hope, Charity<br \/>\nDay 4:\u00a0\u00a0 Four Calling Birds: The Four Gospels<br \/>\nDay 5:\u00a0\u00a0 Five Golden Rings: The Five Books of Moses<br \/>\nDay 6:\u00a0\u00a0 Six Geese a-Laying: Six Days of Creation<br \/>\nDay 7:\u00a0\u00a0 Seven Swans a-Swimming: 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit<\/p>\n<p>Now day 8, Eight Maids a-Milking, can really hit home. Day 8 represents the 8 Beatitudes:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.<br \/>\nBlessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.<br \/>\nBlessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.<br \/>\nBlessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.<br \/>\nBlessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.<br \/>\nBlessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.<br \/>\nBlessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.<br \/>\nBlessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness&#8217; sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.<br \/>\nBlessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.<br \/>\nRejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Matthew 5:3-12<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>These are the blessings of God on those who believe in Him and show Him to the world. The poor in spirit will receive the kingdom of Heaven. The mourning will be comforted. The meek will inherit the earth. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. Those who show mercy will be shown mercy by God. The pure in heart will see God. The peacemakers will be seen as the sons of God. The persecuted (which I like believe include those who are persecuted in the name of Jesus in this day and time) will also see the kingdom of Heaven. The blessed people of the earth will receive the kingdom of Heaven.\u00a0 For me, these blessings are the ones that we will all receive when Jesus returns. It won\u2019t be sectioned out because there are those out there who show a lot of these traits -mercy, love, peacemaking, mourn, etc.- plus we know that God does not play favorites. I believe that we will all see the kingdom of Heaven because as Christians, we are persecuted because of righteousness-because we claim Jesus as our Savior.\u00a0 Of course, I could be wrong but I do believe this to be true. This is just an interpretation. I guess I will have to wait until Christ returns to see if my beliefs are right or wrong in some perspective.<\/p>\n<p>As for Days 9 through 12:<br \/>\nDay 9:\u00a0\u00a0 Nine Ladies Dancing: Nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit<br \/>\nDay 10: Ten Lords a-Leaping: Ten Commandments<br \/>\nDay 11:\u00a0 Eleven Pipers Piping: Eleven Faithful Disciples<br \/>\nDay 12:\u00a0 Twelve Drummers Drumming: Twelve Articles of the Apostles Creed<\/p>\n<p>Dear Heavenly Father: Thank You for this joyous season. Thank You for the blessings that are listed in the Beatitudes. We here on earth cannot wait to receive those that are destined for us when we reach the kingdom of Heaven. Please be with us all as we go through this season and remember our Savior. In Jesus name, Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; I am going to admit that I never really thought much about the song &#8220;The Twelve Days of Christmas&#8221; until I was sitting in church one morning. I never really considered that each of the twelve things could have certain meaning\u2014a bigger, broader, spiritual meaning.\u00a0 Consider the following meanings as you listen to this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":15999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[127,1287,425,3211,3848,4788],"class_list":["post-16254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-womens","tag-beatitudes","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-laura-pattillo","tag-matthew-53-12","tag-twelve-days-of-christmas","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/gchcarolsbloggraphic.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-4ea","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16254"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16257,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16254\/revisions\/16257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}