Tuesday, March 17, 2009

An Irish Prayer For You


Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My father was French, English, and Irish, so today I greet you from my Irish ancestry :) I have never been to Ireland but one of my sisters and our oldest daughter have at different times visited there. Our daughter loved Ireland and the people, and felt like she was "home" while there. My sister found information that leads us to believe some of our ancestors were "tinkers". They traveled the countryside selling their wares. Now this made sense to us who love to travel, move, and meet knew people. By the time I was 7 I had lived in 5 states....My one sister attended 14 schools! As adults we have moved around the country, too. In the past I always found moving exciting and looked forward to it. Our one son-in-law asked his wife this question: "Why it is when your parents see some place that looks interesting, they don't ask, "I wonder what it would be like to visit there?" INSTEAD, they ask, "I wonder what it would be like to LIVE there?" I find that even with all my health issues, the thought of living in a new place excites me..although I must confess that age and poor health has lessened the thrill! If I hear about a town and I don't know where it is, I get out the map or the globe to find it. As I child I used to play a game where I would close my eyes and spin the globe seeing where I would land. I still enjoy finding places on the world globe and I have always loved maps! So it seems that I now have a genetic DNA connection or flaw(?) for an excuse if I need one! Just a few days ago Joel asked me what was wrong with us because we were talking about wanting to live on an acreage, and what kind of house we would like....and we became excited by it. My response to his question? "It's a sickness...."
Well, "moving on" , why do we celebrate St. Patrick's Day?
St Patrick was born in Scotland in the year 387. When St. Patrick was 16 yrs old he was captured by the Irish and sold into slavery. He escaped 6 yrs later and went back to Scotland where he entered the monastery. He eventually became a missionary and felt called to go back to Ireland to preach the gospel of Christianity. The 3 leaf clover was used my St. Patrick to explain the Trinity. What a great idea! The Irish celebrate this great man and what he did for their country. Here in America March 17th has been celebrated since before 1800 by Irish immigrants. We eventually all came to embrace the special day with celebrations across the country. So, today, in honor of my ancestry and just for the fun of it, I want to wish each of you Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Today I pray for each of you this Irish prayer that hangs on my wall:

Deep peace of the running waves to you
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the smiling stars to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the watching shepherds to you.
Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you.

2 comments:

Fliterary said...

Great blog, Renee. I can identify with the moving. This will be my 33rd. I think the thrill of the move gets in your blood. Now if we could just get rid of that nasty Lyme interloper!

Love the last line of the Irish prayer..."Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you."

Hearty amen on that!

Renee said...

The last line is my favorite too..