“Rise up, O Lord, in all your power. With music and singing we celebrate your mighty acts.”

Today is St. Patrick’s Day.  For many, it’s a day to wear green and eat and drink as the Irish do.  But, behind St. Patrick’s day is the celebration of an arrival, the arrival of Christianity to Ireland in the 17th Century.  We are not unfamiliar with celebrating arrivals as we do it all the time when someone new is hired, a deal is closed, a product finally launched, etc.  Yet, more often than not we forget, like most have, what the real reason is behind the celebration.  We can let the celebration get in the way of taking the time to reflect and reinforce what is behind the celebration.  New hire announcements are a perfect example of this in that we love to announce and celebrate the new person we snagged, but we don’t go into “why” we hired this person and what she/he brings to the company and the needs that they will, if successful, fill.  If we spent more time with the reasons behind the celebration we might find that we are adding more meaning and understanding for everyone.

The Bible, especially the Old Testament, is full or celebrations, each with a reason behind them that gets carried through generations to mark a reason, a victory, an event, an overcoming, or an arrival. God wants us to celebrate in our lives, but He also challenges us to be reminded why.  When we get back to the “why” we might find that our celebration changes in how we go about  celebrating.  Today is a great example. If we consider that St. Patrick’s Day is a remembrance of the arrival of Christianity to Ireland, might we rethink what we end up doing for St. Patrick’s Day?  We can and should have fun in our lives, but we should also remain grounded in how and why we embark on that celebration.  That grounding is important.

Reference:  Psalm 21:13 (New Living Translation)