sunshine and saint patrick

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

yesterday i was on a walk in the neighborhood....the neighborhood of my childhood, where i once played, rode my bike, explored the woods and the creek... sun brightly shining, clouds racing by, and wind gusting...it was almost as if i was at the ocean...i could almost taste the salty spray. my thoughts wandered back to ireland. the strong gusts of wind took me to the edge of a cliff on the island of inishmore (the largest of the three aran islands off the west coast). my mom was over visiting. we decided to stay in galway for a weekend and take a ferry out to inishmore. due to my legendary motion sickness, mom and i stood on the deck while being pelted with the rain and wind. once on the island, we hired a very nice university student to take us around in his pony trap (a cart pulled by a horse). eventually we made our way out to an ancient ruin site up on the edge of a cliff. unlike american tourist sites, there were no warning signs, railings, fences, gaurds, etc. one could walk right up to the cliff's edge and look right down to the crashing ocean....so i did (totally freaking out my mother). the wind was crazy, the sun was bright, the clouds were racing by, and the waves were crashing into the rocks...amazing! northern ireland/ireland...one of the places i feel at home. god took me there. just like he took saint patrick there (though not saint patrick at the time). unlike patrick, i had a choice...i was not kidnapped and then enslaved as a teenager. eventually patrick was able to escape his captors in ireland and return to britain. but god called him back. patrick studied, became a priest, and returned to ireland. rather than see the people of ireland as barbarians or beneath him, patrick loved them and lived among them, as one of them. i love that because it is how i feel about life and ministry. i am no better than anyone else. i just love god and want to share that love and knowledge with others. and i am meant to do that in everyday living. so i look to the example of christ, his unconditional love for others....and i look to the examples of other remarkable people like saint patrick and mother teresa...and i look to the examples of wonderful people in my life. i am thankful for the faithful in the christian church, and i am thankful for being given a heart that longs to reach out to others.