12 days of Christmas - Day 4

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,
four calling birds,
three french hens,
two turtle doves,
and a partridge in a pear tree.

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2 Timothy 3:10, 14-17 (NIV)
¹⁰ You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance,...
¹⁴ But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it,
¹⁵ and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
¹⁷ so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 


The song "The Twelve days of Christmas" employs symbols that help children remember the various aspects of their faith.  Over the last three days I mentioned the three french hens as the essentials of faith, hope and love;  two turtledoves as the two covenants of the Old and New Testaments; and a partridge in a pear tree as Jesus Christ.  My true love is God and of course, "me" is, well, you  and me!
Today:
On the fourth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me,
Four Calling birds...


This part of the song actually needs some explanation; as it is not simply "calling" birds, but rather from the old English - "colly" birds. Now, what are "Colly" birds?
Colly means black as coal and a "colliery" was a coal mine with connected buildings.  Colly became the name for black birds.
OK, so why give "colly birds"?
The old school/children's song: "Sing a song of sixpence" talks about "blackbirds baked in a pie".  One of the things I learned in my many travels to England, and especially the Cornwall area is that miners couldn't rely on their lunches being kept free of the coal dust and dirt, so they "tucked" their food inside of "pasties"...dough that was stuffed with potatoes, other vegetables, then baked.  The miners took the pasties to their work and at lunch time they took the pasties apart, literally throwing away the outside to get at the inside, safe goodies.

SO...four colly birds represents the real food inside the outside.
In the case of the Twelve days of Christmas, the thing to learn about four colly birds is that there are four witnesses to the life of Christ - the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
On the fourth day of Christmas, God gave us this to remind us of some of the things that Christ Jesus did in walking this earth.  It wasn't all, as John reminds us.
John 20:30-31 (NIV)
³⁰ Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.
³¹ But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.