days 9 and 10 of the 12 days of Christmas

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The 9 ladies dancing are the nine fruit of the Spirit from Galations 5.  Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness,  Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control.  These are gifts because they are so very hard to obtain and keep in our countenance every day.  The world is hard and full of adversity.  Feeling even a few moments of these gifts is a success in a day.  These gifts are also choices, I think.  I can choose love over hate, joy over misery, peace instead of war, patience in place of hurry, kindness not meanness, goodness instead of evil, faithfulness rather than disloyal, gentleness instead of harshness and self-control over impulsivity.  Hard choices.  The right choices. 

The 10 lords a leaping are the 10 Commandments.  Rules to live by that protect, rather than restrict a good life. 

The Christian faith is full of guidelines for life and important but mysterious truths.....it takes a lifetime to know them and understand them.  I am only just beginning to really appreciate all that we have before us in this life. 

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