I wondered this morning why we say Happy St. Patrick’s Day. We could just as easily say Blessed St. Patrick’s Day. What makes this a happy day? (Besides the abundance of green beer?) In fact, what makes us happy any day?
I have a Happy Scale in my new day planner. Each morning I am supposed to rate my happiness from one to ten, with ten being the happiest I can be. I used this for a while before I noticed I never circled the number ten. I was mainly landing on eights and nines because I was working through something in my personal life. I was saving the ten for the day that situation would be resolved. It was as if I had determined I simply could not be totally happy until this issue was worked out in a way that could make me happy.
How absurd is that? Nothing makes us happy. Happiness is a choice. I heard someone say recently, “If you wait until everything in your life is okay before you can be happy, you’ll never be happy.” I was deeply touched by the wisdom of these words. They made me wonder if it was advisable to rate my happiness at all. By doing so, wasn’t I affirming a level of happiness less than I wanted to experience? What if I just circled 10 every morning and lived into that intention? I think this is a far more powerful way to use this scale.
If nothing can actually make us happy, how do we go about being happy? Affirming happiness would undoubtedly be a vital step. But more, looking within to acknowledge what we are and who we’ve come here to be can reconnect us to our divinity and a far greater experience of happiness. Whatever is happening in our human experience cannot compare to the oneness and wholeness we know when we look within to our divinity.
Perhaps that is how we might think of St. Patrick’s Day. A day to affirm the happiness of Spirit, of knowing on the deepest level that we are one with all that is and that nothing can disturb this indwelling peace and joy.
St. Patrick was born Irish. He became the patron saint and champion of Ireland through his actions. He was born in Scotland and was kidnapped and sold into slavery by Irish pirates. When he escaped, he attended a monastery. Then he returned to Ireland to preach the gospel, build churches, and drive away the metaphorical snakes. Metaphorical snakes because Ireland never had snakes. The reverence afforded to St. Patrick is for driving out that which caused pain and suffering by drawing people closer to their divine heritage. In doing so, he changed how people thought, how they felt, and the actions they took. Maybe this is why Irish Eyes Are Laughing!
When we say Happy St. Patrick’s Day today, let us remember to drive out the snaky thoughts of limitation, separation, and duality. Let us build the sanctuary of our hearts into a cathedral of Light and love. Let us be reminded of our divinity and connection to others, and let those thoughts guide us into a greater experience of happiness and joy.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day and multiple blessings on this day of celebrating the divinity of all. May pots of golden light shower you with love, Light, and wholeness.
“May the strength of God guide us, may the wisdom of God instruct us, may the hand of God protect us, may the word of God direct us. Be always ours this day and for evermore.” – Saint Patrick.
Rev. Eileen Patra
Erin Go Bragh
GRATITUDE is the miraculous awareness that one is surrounded and supported by Divine Love; that a need or desire has been anticipated and met. GRATITUDE is a universal feeling, a miraculous state of being with the power to open our entire being to a receptive state of consciousness. When we are in GRATITUDE we are in alignment with our higher self and with the Source of our being. GRATITUDE and miracles are synonymous, for it is GRATITUDE that opens the door to the experience of all that is miraculous. As I look for miracles in everyday life, I find that I look for those things I feel most grateful for. GRATITUDE is a feeling, an energy, a vibration and a portal to the miraculous. As I recognize and appreciate the many gifts of life my awareness expands, and my eyes are open to even more. GRATITUDE has the capacity to open the heart, relax tightened muscles and release feelings of fear, anger and separation. One cannot be grateful and angry simultaneously. One cannot be grateful and fearful at once. GRATITUDE is the recognition of God-ness in expression as miracles, large and small, dancing in the rhythm of Life.
COINS, flat metal discs that symbolize a measure of abundance have two distinct sides, typically called heads and tails. The heads side alone is not the COIN. The tails side alone is not the COIN. The COIN is a multi-dimensional object representing at least two distinct sides to one idea. In our lives there are a variety of thoughts, ideas and feelings. Each have more than one side, more than one perspective. The idea of abundance for instance has two sides; giving and receiving. They are equally important. One cannot fully exist without the other. If there is no receiving, nothing has truly been given. If there is no giving, nothing is received. The space in which we live fully in the abundance of God lies in the balance between the two sides of the abundance COIN. What idea, feeling or emotion is tugging at your consciousness today? How many sides does it have? Is it like a COIN with two distinct sides; each having equal importance? And where is the point of balance between the two? How can you move yourself into that place of balance and experience what is whole? Could a simple flip of the COIN be the miracle in your life today?
GRAVITY is a wondrous law of physics that miraculously holds us to an orb spinning through space at a relative speed of 516 miles per second. And this very momentum that seems like it should send us flying through space ourselves is what holds us to the planet. Physics aside, what a miracle it is that we have been gifted with this life-sustaining planet and the ability to cling to it. We don’t fall off the planet, yet we are free to move about it. Through human ingenuity we even find ways to transcend the law of GRAVITY and fly through the skies to arrive at our destinations more quickly. We break through the law of GRAVITY and explore worlds far beyond our own. Yet GRAVITY affords us the gift of being grounded to a common base making our oneness indisputable. Here’s to the miracle of GRAVITY for reminding us that we are one people with one home to love, cherish and protect. 
WATERMELON. A juicy, delightful miracle of fruit. I recall watermelon as the highlight of picnic lunches and family reunions as a child. It was not an everyday occurrence so it seemed extravagant and especially exciting to see those juicy red slabs ringed with white then green, dotted here and there with large, inedible seeds. Today I think about the relatively small size of those seeds and how they contrast with the enormous fruit that stems from them. It is miraculous to me that one small seed can produce so much fruit, juice, excitement, and joy. As I ponder what my next thought might be I consider how like the watermelon seed my thoughts are. One small seed can produce a day filled with joy and glory. And one small seed can, if I allow it, produce a day of challenge and struggle. The WATERMELON is a delightful miracle of pink pulp, sweet juice and seeds. My thoughts are also a miracle producing experiences enfolded within their nature. And even more miraculous is my ability to witness and choose the thoughts I hold in mind. I can see them crop up and choose to plant only the ones that will produce what is joyful, enormous, fruitful, delightful, sweet, and extravagant. Planting delightful WATERMELON seeds in my mind and in the world today. Affirming the same for you.
Eileen Patra 