In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day, I just had to tell you about a beautiful little book by Liz Babbs. It’s called Celtic Treasure, and that’s just what it is–a treasure of thought, beauty, worship, and history.
Celtic Treasure helps readers discover the riches of Celtic spirituality. It’s author, Liz, traveled throughout Ireland seeking to connect with its rich spiritual history and its Creator. The book is filled with beautiful photography, prayers of Irish Saints, rich history, and Liz’s own spiritual response to her immersion into the world of Celtic spirituality. I love how Liz weaves Scripture and her own poetry into a deep and beautiful telling of the life and place of the Irish Saints.
Reading this book was a worship experience. I shared parts of it with my husband one morning before we were out of bed. We were captured by the depth and beauty of what I read until I happened to glanced at the clock, “Oh, no! We’d better get ready for church!”
His response? “I thought we were having church.”
We did actually drive to our home church that morning, only a few minutes late, but he was right. It felt like we’d been having church (good, beautiful, meaningful church) as we lay in bed discussing this book.
If you don’t know the story of Saint Patrick I’d encourage you to research it a little (you can read it in Liz’s book) to bring even deeper meaning to the following, a St. Paddy’s Day gift to you from Celtic Treasure:
St Patrick’s Breastplate
I gird myself today with the might of heaven:
The rays of the sun,
The beams of the moon,
The glory of fire,
The speed of wind,
The depth of the sea,
The stability of earth,
The hardness of rock.
I gird myself today with the power of God:
God’s strength to comfort me,
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look after me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to lead me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s angels to save me.
From the snares of the Devil,
From temptations to sin,
From all who wish me ill,
Both far and near,
Alone and with others.
May Christ guard me today
From poison and fire,
From drowning and wounding,
So my mission may bear
Fruit in abundance.
Christ before and behind me,
Christ beneath and above me,
Christ with me and in me,
Christ around and about me,
Christ on my left and my right,
Christ when I rise in the morning,
Christ when I lie down at night,
Christ in each heart that thinks of me,
Christ in each eye that sees me,
Christ in each ear that hears me.
And from Liz’ own heart:
alone on the beach
I am stirred
by the breath
of an infinite God
whose eyes
look into
the depths of my soul.
And I am
strangely at peace.
You can order this book at Amazon, or find it through your local bookstore. You may also enjoying surfing the web for some of Liz’s worship readings. There are several out there and I know they will bless you. I had the gift of sitting underneath Liz’s teaching a couple of times at the Colorado Christian Writer’s Conference, and it was such a blessing. She’s teaching again this year, leading a clinic called The Joy of Unblocked Creativity.
Last year the Lord used this class as a time of renewal for me. Those of you who have followed me for a while know that the last few years were demanding as I dealt with several issues, including almost losing my husband to heart blockage. God miraculously provided for me to attend CCWC and Liz’s class this year. The director of the conference posted my response to this class on her website:
and heavy with the burdens of the past year.
The Lord sent me to the Unblocked Creativity Clinic.
There He asked me to play, to process, and to praise.
Back in my room I wrote fiction for the first time in over a year.
The words started coming again, more beautiful than before.
I left the conference with renewed hope and energy.
