“Stop waiting for others to love, trust, and show mercy. Show others the way. Demonstrate love, truth, mercy, and justice even when others cannot.”~ Tracy Worley
The 8th day of Christmas is eight maids a milking. There is a theory the maids are the eight beatitudes Jesus shares in Mathew. The Beatitudes are found in Mathew 5:3-10. This is one of my favorite parts of Mathew as I can relate to all of them and have surely experienced God’s mercy.
Frankly, many get the Beatitudes wrong. They are not prescriptive but descriptive things. They are not a to-do list. Beatitudes describe who the blessed are and what they will receive. One thing the blessed can count on is persecution. We will be mocked, persecuted and lied about because of our belief. But the Kingdom of Heaven itself is ours who believe!
The world seems to change so fast that no one can keep up. Regardless of your belief system it seems to be right and true to mock, persecute, and lie about others if they do not fit within a narrow lane of beliefs.
The above statement rings so much truth in how believers and non-believers are witnessing today.
- It is “right” to slander others before finding truth.
- Love is earned.
- Trust is purchased.
- Justice is balancing out of fear and scarcity.
- Comfort is no longer being found in Him first, but of the world first.
- Hearts are impure within.
Where is the encouragement? How did we get from eight maids a milking to falsely accuse and persecute? Why do we not turn the news off? Are we too eager to hear gossip of someone else’s life and not mind our own? How have we let reality television become our new normal?
Be encouraged because in the season, Christ is our light and hope in the darkness, within and without.
Look Up and Out,
Tracy Worley