On the seventh day of Christmas
my true love gave to me
seven swans a swimming.

Now to be completely honest, it’s super easy to forget about these days being days of Christmas since we seem to be so far removed from the celebration itself. I mean seriously, the garbage trucks have already cleared the wrappings, boxes, and in many cases, even the trees! It seems like things are returning to normal already. But today is the 7th day of Christmas. And today’s gift is a gift of 7.

On this the 7th day of Christmas, we receive the gift of 7 swans a swimming. A fairy odd gift when we’re in the dead of winter and, at least here in Ohio, there are no swans swimming anywhere! So what do these seven swimming swans have to do with the Bible and what can we learn from them.

The number seven in and of itself is a pretty significant one in the Bible. There were several instances of this number throughout the pages of Scripture and the all point to one thing – completeness. Yep, when you see the number seven on the pages of the Bible, chances are that there’s a meaning of completeness or wholeness to that number. Take for instance creation happening in seven days. It wasn’t done until day seven came and went. Therefore seven marked fullness or completeness.

So today we celebrate the fullness of something, and the swans are the clue. When I think of swans, I think of grace-filled beings gliding effortlessly across the water. These seven swimming swans are reminders to us of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. When we operate in the gifts that are given to us, it’s effortless and we seemingly glide through that portion of our lives. Now that’s not to say things aren’t hard, but they are bearable. We know that we are doing the right thing and going in the right direction.

So if we put it all together we can see that today’s gift is the gift of the fullness of God’s Spirit to dwell in us and empower us for the activities of life today. So rest in the hands of Jesus today friends. He has this covered. And take a moment to celebrate! Celebrate the greatest gift of all, Jesus and how that gift has made an impact on your day today.

Merry Christmas – part 7!