In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.
Mahatma Gandhi
(sign seen somewhere along a road in County Limerick, Ireland / Julie Cook / 2015)
I will give you hidden treasures,
riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the Lord,
the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
Isaiah 45:3
May the blessing of God’s soft rain be on you,
Falling gently on your head, refreshing your soul
With the sweetness of little flowers newly blooming.
May the strength of the winds of Heaven bless you,
Carrying the rain to wash your spirit clean
Sparkling after in the sunlight.
May the blessing of God’s earth be on you,
And as you walk the roads,
May you always have a kind word
for those you meet.
During the late 1800’s the dreaded potato famine, which was akin to the 1930’s dust bowl in magnitude of hunger and devastation to a people, saw the immigration of thousands of Irish to the United States. My great-grand parents were a part of that mass exodus (not necessarily Sylvia Kay’s but we won’t digress).
Upon arrival in the US, be it the Irish, the Italian, the Germans, the Russians, the Scandinavians, etc…all brought with them their culture’s customs, their faith, their foods— or rather melded all of the old world’s to now the new world’s. Creating the amalgamation so many of us today call our family’s traditions and heritage. Making us, this generation of today’s American, who and what we are.
As I look out over our yard, only to hear my husband’s frustration in the reoccurring clover invading his hard cultivated grass, I think of the honey bees and the clover honey that is so much a part of the South. I think of my childhood and the clover flower necklaces and head pieces we use to make on those warm summer evenings, I think of the endless summer hours spent combing the clover patch in search of that oh so elusive 4 leaf clover, which can often be found now pressed in an old bible or Nancy Drew book from my younger days….
And I can’t help but think of the Irish–not that clover has anything to do with a shamrock, but there’s that mythical and often mystical amalgamation of cultures—what kid hasn’t connected the tireless 4 leaf clover search and then spotting that awe inspiring rainbow, after a rain, with Ireland, luck, and Leprechauns?
So as I surveyed this latest patch of clover, my thoughts turned oddly to families past and families present, as well as to God and His blessings, which are to be found even in clover patches. May God richly bless you this day….
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