The next step on the prayer journey...

"Celtic Christianity".  Two fairly simple words, but profound in the way the have shaped my heart and mind toward our Almighty God and my prayer life.  

The early Celtic Christians were a strange mix of people.  Royalty, peasants, farmers, women, men, children, rich, poor, rural.  Many Irish Christians were brought to the faith through St. Patrick and St. Brigid.  Because of the people's background in the Druid pagan faith, Patrick and Brigid had some pretty tall obstacles to overcome. 

The positive aspect about this background is that the people were already used to wrapping their lives in their faith, whether it be pagan or Christian.  So once God's word pricked their hearts, they immediately reflected their new faith in every aspect of daily life. It's this total embracing of faith and prayer that really inspired me to dig deeper.  

Celtic Christians prayed over every little thing.  The "Carmnia Gadelica" is a beautiful collection of Celtic prayers, blessings and traditions.  Spending time in this amazing piece of literature helped me begin to realize the extent to which early Celtic Christians wrapped every movement, act of manual labor, season, step, bite of food....well everything in prayer and praise.  

For example, here is a prayer when leaving on a journey.  

THE JOURNEY PRAYER

God, bless to me this day,
God, bless to me this night ;
Bless, O bless. Thou God of grace,
Each day and hour of my life ;
Bless, O bless. Thou God of grace.
Each day and hour of my life.

God, bless the pathway on which I go,
God, bless the earth that is beneath my sole ;
Bless, O God, and give to me Thy love,
O God of gods, bless my rest and my repose ;
Bless, O God, and give to me Thy love,
And bless, O God of gods, my repose.

This one is a favorite of mine.  It's so sweet and innocent about the mundane task of milking a wee cow:

  

"The Milking Prayer"

Bless, O God, my little cow,
Bless, O God, my desire;
Bless Thou my partnership
And the milking of my hands, O God.

Bless, O God, each teat,
Bless, O God, each finger;
Bless thou each drop
That goes into my pitcher, O God!

This made me wonder.  How might my life be different if I wrapped myself in prayer?   

Listen and Silent

Strange but true fact.....the words "Silent" and "Listen" are made up of the exact same letters.  Coincidence? 

As I travel deeper and deeper into prayer, I find myself talking less to God and simply listening.  When I do actually talk to Him, I find myself speaking in short sentences such as "Help", "Please" and "Have mercy on  me." 

As I study "The Rule" by St. Benedict, I'm struck that the first words in this literary and spiritual masterpiece are "“Listen, O my son, to the precepts of thy master, and incline the ear of the heart.”  

With all he had to say, his first word was "Listen".  

In my own life, I've been guilty of living a life far away from listening and patience.  Instead, I've lived a life of hurried unawareness.   I've been guilty of trying to finish my prayer time with the thought that I needed to get on with the real business of the day.  Isn't that sad?  I've been a Christian since 1980 and it's taken me 32 years to realize that the real business of the day IS prayer.  

30 second praise dance.....

A little side track from the prayer journey posts to say something very normal.  Right now normal is good.  Yesterday my friend and I went to the doctor for her to get a shot to keep her blood counts up.  That's not normal.  But afterwards, we went to Wendys for a Frosty and french fries.  We sat there and talked about normal stuff while eating normal food.  Then later in the afternoon we went to her son's season opener basketball game.  We sat in the stands like normal people cheering on someone we love.  Cancer makes everything abnormal. I like normal.  Yesterday was almost normal.  I've learned life is too short to miss out on opportunities to express joy.  Time for a 30 second praise dance.

My Prayer Journey

There have been times in my life that I've hit my knees in prayer.  In those cases, prayer was a destination. But during the times of uncertainty with my health, other life issues and now my best friend's cancer battle, prayer has become a journey, a calling.  "Crying out to Jesus" means something different to me now. I can look back on my past and see that God has been preparing me for a battle that I didn't even know was coming. 

All my life I've been an Irish girl, even before I understood what that meant.  My mother's family is Scot-Irish/English and Native American. My Granddaddy told me one day standing out on his carport that he was "the world's tallest leprechaun" (He was 6'5"). My father's side of the family is German. With that colorful tapestry of ancestors, my parents named me Kelley, which is Irish in origin and means "Gaelic Warrior Maiden."  

Everyone has always laughed at that meaning, envisioning some grisly, amazon sized woman, clad in a helmet with horns coming out the side and holding a spear of some sort.  But in the past few years I've come to realize that God named me just as He named so many people of the bible.  He set a plan in motion even before I was born when my parents decided that if born a girl, I would be Kelley.  You see my role as a "Gaelic Warrior Maiden" had nothing to do with earthly battles with earthy war tools.  Instead it has everything to do with spiritual battles and prayer tools.  I am a Gaelic PRAYER Warrior Maiden. 

As an adult I've become more interested in studying genealogy.  As my search led me further and further into the Scot-Irish culture of my heritage, I began to search out information on the faith of those lands. I believe we are linked to our past through blood, experiences and faith. 

  

One afternoon I came across two little words that would set the sails of my life into the winds of my prayer journey.  "Celtic Christianity".  In those two words, my thoughts on prayer began to shift. My soul began to open up and my life would be forever changed.  

 Stay tuned....

    

An Introduction To Me

A little background.....I'm a 46 year old Christan woman, wife of 25 1/2 years, mother for 21 1/2 years, photographer, writer, want to be chef, political nerd, travel enthusiast, social media addict, football fan, genealogy digger, singer, prayer warrior, Christmas ornament collector, rabid reader, worship lover, Jesus seeker and Dysautonomia patient for almost exactly 4 years.  Perhaps I listed it all, perhaps not.  I may need to add more later. 

I'm at an interesting point in life.  My oldest son is a junior in college, living away from home.  My youngest son is a senior in high school who just finished his final season as a football player.  He plans to attend college locally and live at home.  My family role is tilting a bit and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Throughout my children's lives, I have worked outside the home, but mostly inside.  I ran a photography business for 12 years.  It was very successful until the economy tanked at the same time my health tanked with the diagnosis of Dysautonomia. Since then I've continued writing for this publication and that, along with photographing food, friends and interesting events.

I wrote a blog for many years until someone slit my throat with their hateful words accusing me of being mean when I wrote about something I found funny and they did not.  I was at a very fragile place emotionally and physically at that time and so I just deleted the whole blog.  It's a decision I now regret, but have moved past.  

My best friend for the past 3 decades was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last December.  The journey is difficult for her especially, but also for her entire family, circle of friends, church family and me, her best friend.  My husband jokes that my best friend and I have been "married" longer than he and I have been.  And in some weird twisted ways that is kind of true.  We've been through a lot together.  More on that later.  But the main thing at this point, as I introduce myself again, is that whoever is reading this, please pray for her.  Her name is Angie. And when I say pray, I actually mean beg. 

My life is changing in subtle and also dramatic ways.  I'm adjusting a little at a time. My plan is to just write.  Write about how I feel, what I'm doing and where I'm going.  If you want to come along for the ride, enjoy.  I also encourage you to drop a comment, email or visit me on facebook.  I do ask that you be kind and respectful of me and others.  We all have to live together so let's follow the Golden Rule.