The Eighth Day of Bringing Gifts – December 19, 2012
“On the eighth  day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…eight  maids a-milking,  seven swans  a-swimming, six geese  a-laying,  five gold rings – four calling  birds, three  French  hens,  two turtle doves,  and a partridge  in a pear tree.”
Since numbers arose they have had meaning beyond what they measure. Folklore has picked  up on this. It would  have been  impossible to come  up with thirteen days of Christmas. Twelve represents perfection.
Thirteen  represents trouble. In the first book of the Bible itself the first war began  in “the thirteenth year” (Genesis 14:4). And so it went through  the centuries in secular as well as religious  imagination. It’s no wonder that hotels don’t have a thirteenth floor or that Friday the 13th has a bad name!
The seven days of creation, including a day of rest and dedication, also represent perfection – eight, the beginning of a new era. Nothing  describes better  what life is meant  to be like on this eighth  day than Jesus’ Beatitudes, eight in number.
“Happy  are people who are hopeless, because the kingdom  of heaven is theirs. Happy  are people who grieve, because they will be made  glad. Happy  are people who are humble, because they will inherit  the earth.  Happy  are people who are hungry  and thirsty for righteousness, because they will be fed until they are full. Happy  are people who show mercy,  because they will receive  mercy.  Happy  are people who have pure hearts,  because they will see God.  Happy  are people who make peace, because they will be called  God’s children. Happy  are people whose  lives are harassed because they are righteous, because the kingdom  of heaven is theirs” (Matthew  5:3-10, Common English Bible).
This eightfold  teaching is as nourishing to the soul as milk, the first and most nutritious food, is to the body. So it was that in the first millennia of Christian  custom and belief “8” became associated with happiness and blessing,  however well practiced.
The true love of God nourishes body and soul. The blessings  of God affect our entire  well-being. We’re meant to live and give on “the eighth  day,” mindful  that, in the birth of Christ, a new era of happiness, a new kind of blessing,  really has begun.
According  to an annual study by a national financial institution, the cost of eight maids a-milking  is approximately $58. To explore  the life-giving possibilities of a $58 gift to the Christmas  Fund for the Veterans  of the Cross and the Emergency  Fund, visit http://bit.ly/CF12_12_12-8.