Christ in You

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I was going to post something funny, you know, those light-hearted little "blessings" that are all around the internet this weekend. But I kept coming back to this excerpt from St. Patrick's well-known Lorica. It seems fitting for us, generally as followers of Christ, but very specifically now as we gird ourselves in the coming weeks to parent yet another blessing. She is coming to us from broken-ness and lack. While we know full well that there is nothing in us that is worthy to be the ones that lead her to healing and plenty, we are VERY mindful that it is CHRIST IN US that makes us even slightly eligible to have that privilege. I love the comfort and security of knowing that all of the tasks to which He calls us come because He chose us, He wooed us, and then He equips us.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

If you've never read up on this patron saint of all things Irish, I highly recommend you do some digging. I'm a history buff so reading up on some of the ancients such as St. Patrick is something I do for fun. I know, that is weird to some folks (my kids!). There are so many rich things to learn from the godly folks who have gone before us. I love learning about them and remembering that they were usually "every day folks" who were anointed for their tasks because they were AVAILABLE. That's it. They loved God. They pursued Him as He pursued them. They chose to listen to the call that God put in all of us. He made us all to bear His image, to carry HIM inside and to spill HIM out in all we do. Those men and women of the faith that we honor and hold up as standards of holiness represent what we are also completely capable of accomplishing. Sure, it may not be that our image-bearing actions will affect an entire island nation But if we avail ourselves to His voice and let HIM fill us and arm us, we can certainly affect our world.

Have a fantastic day celebrating today. And May Christ be in you and flow out of you with the unique and creative ministry that God placed within YOU.