First of all, let me begin by saying I am a Southern Baptist. I was born into a Southern Baptist family, raised in the Southern Baptist church, and made a personal commitment to Jesus and was baptized into the Body of Christ at the age of 8.
Saints and sainthood aren't really big in the Baptist church -- not like they are in some other Christian denominations. However, a few weeks ago, I felt a really calling to take a patron saint.
Now, I knew there were patron saints of things....I mean, like Saint Jude being the patron saint of lost causes, and Saint Francis of Assisi being the patron saint of animals and such like, but I didn't know if an individual person could take a patron saint for himself. Or herself, as would be my case.
Naturally, I did what any red blooded American would do. I got on Facebook and asked my Catholic friends if an individual could take a patron saint, and if so, how would one go about doing that, and would it be OK if I took one, even though I'm Baptist.
My Catholic friends (and one Orthodox friend) explained the process to me, and reassured me that being a confirmed Catholic is not a requirement, and I could indeed choose a patron saint if I felt a particular affinity towards one in particular.
As it happens, there was a Saint I was feeling especially drawn to, so I choose as my patron saint.....
Saint Nicholas of Myra.
I chose him for the following reasons:
He is the patron saint of single people. Yep, I qualify there. I've been essentially single my whole life. Even the brief time I was married, my husband and I never lived together due to our military commitments, so I really don't count myself as ever having been married. I mean, legally I was, but not really.
He is the patron saint of sailors. Five years in the world's finest Navy...yeah, I'm there, too. Go Navy! Beat Army!
He loved to give gifts -- and according to one version of his story, especially loved giving them in secret. The reason cited was that he wanted the recipient to believe the gift -- and keep in mind, when I say gifts, they were practical things like the time he supposedly gave dowry money to three daughters of a poor man so they would be able to marry -- but he wanted the recipient to believe, to know, the gift came from Jesus.
But probably the biggest reason I chose Saint Nicholas is that I, too, frequently feel the desire to slap people -- and not just heretics....That particular day at work, I was having a rough time of it. I don't know if I was being especially irritable or my coworkers were being especially stupid, but I was having to stand on my hands to keep from slapping someone.
St. Nicholas spoke rather strongly to me that day.
Today being St. Nicholas day, I have to share with you this little gem, which I totally swiped from my friend Kristine, and which I also totally sang:
Before I go, here is today's Homestead Holiday Share for day 6– a holiday scent.
To me, there is no scent more closely associated with Christmas than pine. I know some of you might say it is cookies baking, or cinnamon, or oranges, or whatever, but for me, it's pine. For your photos today, as soon as I got home from work, I headed straight out into the woods behind my house and found...
some pine trees. Not Christmas tree pines, but pine trees nonetheless.
I took the photos in color. The black and white appearance is all the natural colors and the lighting. The silhouette of the trees against the overcast, gray sky. The tall, majestic trees, towering over the hardwoods, lifting their arms to God...
Is it any wonder, they've always been my favorite of all the trees?
1 comment:
Pretty tree photos. I thought about pine. However, for this time of year, the scent of warm spices brings me to Christmas time. Scents are a funny thing.
When we harvest trees off our property, sometimes, thanks to something in the tree, a fungus, maybe, we can smell grapes. It's weird.
I'm not sure who my patron saint would be.
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