Top O' the Morning! Saint Patrick's Breastplate Prayer

I have vivid memories of a small town upbringing that include going to a joint Baptist/Methodist Vacation Bible School. Our assembly and classes were held in the icy cold Seaboard Baptist Church sanctuary.  For a girl whose own home was hot as a firecracker, the cool chilled sacred quiet was as refreshing as a glass of fresh brewed iced tea.

Craft time was a different story. We went outside (to prevent making a mess, natch) and made wondrous things. No pipe-cleaner creations during those days, but real crafts. I remember diligently making a birdhouse and sloppily painting it white. And I especially remember the senior gentleman who, is in what was a once was a crisp short sleeved shirt,  guided us in our endeavers in the broiling heat. Precious Thurmond Bullock guided our youthful attempts at carpentry, mopping sweat all the while.

One year, we made a little plaque. We were given elegant precut wooden pieces which we dutifully sanded and painted black. And then, on top, we mod-podged a piece of paper with a prayer written in an elegant medieval looking font. Years later, I realized it was the famous prayer called St. Patrick's Breastplate. You can read more about it here as well as the full text: Saint Patrick's Breastplate

A small portion goes like this:

This prayer is as powerful today as it was for the author all those years ago. In times of trouble, we feel our humanity and our frailty. But as the author knew then, and we know now, the presence of God is always with us.

My sister, suffered great debilitating pain. Yet after a hospitalization in which she was wrestled with unthinkable agony, she shared that even in her lowest darkest moments of torment she felt the presence of, in the language of her faith, The Comfortor.

It is easy to feel we are walking the road alone. I have had a few sleepless nights wondering "what if?"  But we aren't alone. We aren't. Ever. Alone.

Strong  or weak, young or old, well or ill, afraid or secure, we are cloaked in the great love and presence of God. Call it what you will: the Comfortor, the Holy Spirit, Yahweh, Teacher, Counselor, Strengthener. But just as the writer of St. Patrick's Breastplate knew - the spirit of the living God is all around around us, encompassing and embracing us - spiritual "personal protective equipment" that  nourishes our souls - that replenishes our heart - that meets our faith and keeps us whole.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. -PSALMS 46:2-3 

Amen and Amen.