HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY

The Land of Love

Legends and Laughter

There are many, many legends

About Saint Patrick's Day,

About the Shamrock and the Blarney

And the leprechauns at play;

And that most delightful story

That God blessed the Emerald Isle

With the beauty of His goodness

And the sunshine of His smile;

And how a dear, beloved Saint

Taught the Irish about God

Just by showing them a Shamrock

That was grown on Erin's sod.

He told them of the Trinity,

The living Three In One;

The Holy Ghost ... the Father,

And His beloved Son.

And all these lovely legends

Of the well-known Irish race,

Have given every Irishman

A very special place,

Not only just in history

But in everybody's heart,

For of this old earth's laughter,

The dearest, finest part

Is made of "smiling Irish eyes"

And mirth-filled Irish jokes;

And what a dull world this would be

Without God's Irish folks.

~ Helen Steiner Rice ~

I liked this poem that I found on the web shile doing a little research on St. Patrick's day. I hope you do also. I thought I would give you a little history of St. Patrick's day and who he was. So here goes.

Who was St. Patrick you might ask. Well in a nutshell he is the patron saint of Ireland. He as born around 380. Most people think he this happened in England or Scotland. When he was 16 Irish raiders raided his families estate and hauled him off in captivity. He was taken back to Ireland were he would spend the next 6 years. During this time he became a Christian and turned his life over to Christ. Finally he had revelation, via a dream, that it was time for him to return home. He did this by simply walking away. The problem was he had 200 miles to walk to get to the coast to get back home. This he accomplished, I am sure with just a little help from God. Once back home he eventually had another revelation by God that he was to go back to Ireland as missionary. He trained for 15 years before this came about. But eventually he was sent back with a two fold mission. One was to minister to Christians already in Ireland. The other was to start to convert the Irish. He was very successful at these two things. Eventually he became a bishop in 455. He died on March 17 around the year 460. Since then the Irish have always celebrated this day.

Many legends have sprung up around St. Patrick. One of these included, and probably the most well know, was that he chased all of the snakes out of Ireland. Don't believe most of these. What I have written above are as close to the basic facts of his life as I could find.

The Irish have been celebrating the anniversary of his death since he died. There holiday has been a lot different than ours though. They consider it a holy day. Until recent years pubs weren't even open on St. Patrick's day. They also prefer to eat the dish of bacon and lettuce instead of corn beef and lettuce. The first St. Patrick's day parade was in New York in 1761. This was done by Irish soldiers in the Queen's Army at the time. In the 1800's cities embraced St. Patrick's day and all things Irish. This was done mainly because of the political influence the influx of Irish immigrants had. Today it resembles it has little in common with the original celebration some 1500 years ago.

There are some lessons to learn from the life of St. Patrick. One is to never give up hope and always trust in God. He could have easily done that when he taken captive. He had to trust in the Lord as he went back to convert the Irish also. His life was put in danger many times and he always trusted the Lord.

Another is once God has given you a task to perform, respond to it right away. He did this when told to go home after being a captive for 6 years. Also in his later call to go back to Ireland as a missionary. Only God could have performed what he attempted to do and what was accomplished through him.

Finally always try to spread the Good News of what Jesus did for us. We are all missionaries even if we don't know it.

These are just some thoughts to think about on this St. Patrick's Day. I will leave you with an Irish blessing I found on the internet.

May you always have work for your hands to do.

May your pockets hold always a coin or two.

May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.

May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.

May the hand of a friend alwaysbe near you.

And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

'Till next time.- THE GREAT ONE