Devotional for the Fifth Day of Christmas

“I like to compare the holiday season with the way a child listens to a favorite story. The pleasure is in the familiar way the story begins, the anticipation of familiar turns it takes, the familiar moments of suspense, and the familiar climax and ending.”

– Fred Rogers

On the Fifth Day of Christmas my true love sent to me

Five gold rings,

Four calling birds,

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree.

Matthew 3:1-6 (The Living Bible) - While they were living in Nazareth, John the Baptist began preaching out in the Judean wilderness. His constant theme was, “Turn from your sins . . . turn to God . . . for the Kingdom of Heaven is coming soon.”

Isaiah the prophet had told about John’s ministry centuries before! He had written, “I hear a shout from the wilderness, ‘Prepare a road for the Lord—straighten out the path where he will walk.’”

John’s clothing was woven from camel’s hair and he wore a leather belt; his food was locusts and wild honey. People from Jerusalem and from all over the Jordan Valley, and, in fact, from every section of Judea went out to the wilderness to hear him preach, and when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.