Seven Swans A-Swimming (The REAL Twelve Days of Christmas)

Merry seventh day of Christmas!

The Christmas season, or Christmastide, doesn’t actually begin until Christmas Day, lasting for the next twelve days until the Feast of Epiphany on January 6, and celebrating the Incarnation: “God With Us”! These are the days referred to in the popular Christmas carol. So, we’re celebrating each day with a short explanation and thought. If you’re coming into the series late, click here to start with the first day.

Here’s day seven of the real twelve days of Christmas:

On the seventh day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me seven swans a-swimming…

Remember the story of The Ugly Duckling? Baby swans are ugly. But as they grow, they turn into something beautiful. The gift of the seven swans is meant to represent the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in Romans 12:6-8, gifts that help us to grow and serve others:

“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

R.C. Sproul has an excellent little booklet on the Holy Spirit and the role He plays in our lives, What Is the Holy Spirit? It’s part of the Crucial Questions series, all twenty of which are totally free! If you haven’t downloaded these yet, you should! Another excellent little study is The Holy Spirit by Kevin DeYoung, for 99¢. There’s also a free study online at Ligonier.