Happy St. Patty's Day!

I know that for most people St. Patrick's day is about nothing more than wearing the colour green, drinking beer and maybe kissing some Irish people...ok maybe most people don't even care that it is St. Patrick''s Day. Whether you take note or not, March 17th is a day meant to honor the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick.

During my last semester of college at WCC I took a class on the history of missions. For the most part it wasn't very exciting. History, even church history and the history of missions, two things that are very important to me, does not get me very excited. Even with my dislike for history I found myself very interested in the history of St. Patrick. Before taking that class I really knew nothing about the man that today is all about. The biggest surprise to me was that he wasn't even Irish. He was born in Britain. At the age of 16 he was captured and sold as a slave in Ireland. He spent six years as a slave in Ireland. During those years as a slave his personal faith developed. After six years of slavery he managed to escape and returned to Britain where he became a deacon and a bishop. The part that fascinates me the most about this man is that he then returned to Ireland with a passion to spread the gospel to the Irish. To me that is real love. He had love for the people who had taken him from his family and enslaved him. I believe that is the kind of love God desires me and all his followers to have. Something I've discovered during my 26 years on this earth is that people aren't always easy to love. The reason I love people is because God loves them but I fall short in so many ways. St. Patrick is an inspiration to me in loving people. And so now St. Patrick's day has new meaning for me. A reminder of the great love that one man showed to his enslavers. And a reminder that I too can love the people that it would be easiest not to love.