On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
seven swans a-swimming…

The seven swans a-swimming have been understood to represent the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit—wisdom (seeing clearly), understanding (listening well, deep empathy), counsel (discernment, wise decision-making), fortitude (resilience, staying power), knowledge (truthful awareness), piety (lived faithfulness), and awe (reverent wonder)—or, in other traditions, the Seven Sacraments of the Church.

“There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.”
— 1 Corinthians 12:4

Swans suggest grace in motion—beauty that appears effortless, even as strong bodies work steadily beneath the surface.

The life of the Spirit is often like this: unseen, sustaining, quietly resisting the current. In a time when leadership—religious, political, and cultural—often feels thin or performative, the gifts of the Spirit point toward a different way of being in the world. Wisdom instead of reaction. Courage instead of cruelty. Awe instead of control.

Broken Theology resists turning the Spirit into a possession or a proof of correctness. The Spirit is not given to make us certain, but to make us present. She disrupts arrogance and invites humility. She does not promise ease, but companionship. She does not remove us from the world’s pain, but teaches us how to move within it with wisdom and care.

The Spirit moves where She wills, often outside the boundaries we try to enforce.

If we think of the sacraments, the number varies depending on tradition, denomination, and theology. Regardless of how many are named, they point to the same truth: ordinary things—water, bread, wine, oil, words—made holy through shared attention and grace. They remind us that God meets us not in abstraction, but in bodies and communities.

In turbulent waters, the Spirit does not promise calm.
She offers movement, resilience, and companionship.

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May the Spirit move,
strong beneath your fragile grace—
held in living flow.