On the twelfth day of Christmas...

Well, twelfth day and twelfth night are a bit confusing. It is supposed to be the end of the Christmas season, but Jan 6 is Epiphany. There are a wide variety of traditions. Got to love Wikipedia. :-) What I've chosen to take from the possibilities, this year, are taking down the decorations. That's it. It's my first time, so I'm starting small, in that respect.

My true love gave to me redemption.

That is what Christmas is all about: The birth of Jesus Christ, my Savior, the One who changed the world, one person at a time, and saves all who accept Him. In an earlier post, it was pointed out that one need only choose Christ once. Yes, once you set your foot on His path you are His. That being said, because I am His, I want to be more like Him. I want to be a better person. I'm not perfect. I make mistakes. I need God's saving Grace. I don't believe that gives me permission to do whatever, right or wrong. I do believe that by accepting Him, I also accept that my life will change and that life is about practicing the changes He wants for me.

I don't believe in forgiving and utterly forgetting. If one forgets entirely, how do you keep from making the same mistake? I also have no illusions about the reality of evil. You only have to face it once to know it's real. Facing it repeatedly, leaves a brand that goes soul deep, but it's a brand that Christ and only Christ is able to heal. It is only the "world" that declares scars are ugly. I know, I've been told often enough. I have been told that men are stupid and don't marry girls with a face as scarred as mine is. I've also been told that beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes all the way to the bone. Those who said those things would decry the meaning I took from those words, but their actions drove the meaning home, again and again. Is it any wonder I feel ugly?

But you see, Christ doesn't care about how I look, even down to the bone. What matters to Him is this: "...I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands..." Christ was born, lived, was crucified, and then resurrected for me. It is that knowledge that fills me with Hope, though Hope seems impossible. It is that knowledge that reminds me that no matter how confusing I find Love to be, considering the warp, twisted examples I knew, He Loves me, and as I am His, Love lives in me. God, my True Love.