Doug’s 12 Days of Christmas: Nine …Ladies Dancing?!

Welcome to another of this year’s Doug’s 12 Days of Christmas, at the intersection of the song, the children’s game, tradition, culture, and Christ-mas. If you’ve missed a few, check your in-box from yesterday, or ping Doug@doughowe.com. Today. “Nine…”

What do you think of when you hear “ladies dancing?” Perhaps the Radio City Rockettes? The ballet? Riverdance? The Tableau at Woodleaf? As a Southern California boy, we were raised on the Laker Girls. (Bet you’d never see them in a Christmas letter?!)

For the children who played the original “12 Days of Christmas” Game with their families or at a house church, the importance wasn’t on the ladies dancing, but on the “Nine.” Each number represented one of the tenets of faith; the rhyme and color was fun and somewhat nonsensical. The “nine” stood for the…

Nine fruits of the Spirit. This is really important, and special. You see, of all of the religions or religious systems in the world, there is one major and primary component that makes the Christian faith different from all others. Most religious belief systems require that you do enough good things, or the right good things, to somehow qualify for blessings in this life or the next. The message of Jesus was that the Lord gives us His grace as a gift, and He came for us at Christmas as a gift, and He died for us as a gift, and He rose again on that first Easter as a gift, and by receiving His grace, we can bear fruit just like a healthy branch that is connected to a tree. (Read John 15 for more on this.)

Those “Fruits of the Spirit” are listed in the New Testament book of Galatians:

Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self-Control

Think about how kewl it would be, to be known by these traits! Who of us wouldn’t want to be known this way? Who of us wouldn’t want to treat others with these? Those kids of long ago, when they got to the “Nine ladies dancing,” had never heard of the Laker Girls, but they knew it would be good to pursue these characteristics. And, beautifully, they knew that if they pursued their faith, and a deeper relationship with the Lord, then these traits would show up as “fruit” in their lives. What a thought, huh?

Continued Christ-mas blessings to you; I hope you’re enjoying this journey through this year’s 12 Days of Christmas. See you tomorrow for the “Eight…”, -Doug

12th Day…
…Good morning aviators, 12 points of the Creed.
11th Day…
…Baker’s miracle, 11 faithful disciples/learners.
10th Day…
…Ten Commandments, actually just two.
9th Day…
…Laker Girls, 9 fruits of the Spirit.
8th Day…
7th Day…
6th Day…
5th Day…
4th Day…
3rd Day…
2nd Day…
1st Day…