Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. —Ephesians 1:3
If you’re lucky enough to be Irish, you’re lucky enough! That’s what they say. But I’m not Irish. At least I didn’t think I had any Irish in me until I did my DNA testing with ancestry.com and discovered that I am in fact more Irish than British, at 12% Irish with Scottish, and Welsh mixed in. My, ever-so-British grandmother would have been shocked. My youngest son, Alec, always insisted we were Irish, even when we protested that there was very little—if any—Irish in our history. He was thrilled to find out he was right. He even said that the kids in school the next day had recognized his Irish accent. Oh from the mouth of babes.
Now that St. Patrick’s Day is nearing, we’re turning our attention to four-leaf-clovers, wearing the color Kelly green, and doing other things that will bring us luck—but where does that all luck come from? Are the Irish really luckier than anyone else? Actually, the idea is not Irish in origin—it’s American. During the gold and silver rush of the 19th century, a lot of the most famous and successful miners were of Irish descent. So over time this association of the Irish with mining fortunes lead to the expression “Luck of the Irish.”
How did the shamrock become associated with St. Patrick, the primary patron saint of Ireland? According to Irish legend, the saint used the three-leafed plant (which is not to be confused with the four-leaf clover) as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity when he was first introducing Christianity to Ireland. But we still love to celebrate the four-leaf clover as lucky probably because of its rarity. Only 1 in 10,000 clovers has four leaves instead of three. The rare four-leaf version is supposed to stand for faith, hope, love, and luck.
And then there’s wee lucky leprechauns—they even appear on Lucky Charms cereal boxes. One of the most interesting features of leprechauns is what happens when you are lucky enough to catch one. In exchange for freedom, these little fairy folk will grant you three wishes. Folklore has it that a leprechaun can be found with a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Now that’s lucky.
We all want to be lucky or at least attract good luck into our lives—we’d be crazy not to. There’s no end to the things we can do to attract luck even if we’re not Irish.
Now I must admit, as a child I had a lucky rabbit’s foot charm keychain, and loved I ladybugs—and not just for their lucky qualities. Searching for four-leaf clovers was especially fun and even better when I found one. I did other silly things to “attract” luck—and as luck would have it, I was always pretty lucky (perhaps it was the luck of the Irish after all).
In researching songs about luck, I found many popular ones (depending on your generation) that have to do with luck as well. The list is too exhaustive to include them all, but here are a few you might recognize:
With a Little Luck - Paul McCartney, Lucky Star - Madonna, Luck be a Lady - Frank Sinatra, Good Luck Charm - Elvis Presley
Conversely, consider the famous quote: “If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.” Even Ray Charles along with Jimmy Lewis wrote and sang a song together titled. “If it Wasn’t for Bad Luck.” In this song they try to outdo each other with their incredible bad luck stories. There are probably as many songs about bad luck out there as there are good luck songs.
How much stock do we put into this whole luck thing? Basically, we silly humans place a lot of credence in the power of luck. But what’s luck really got to do with it? Knowing God is in charge, we can feel comforted that He’s not leaving things up to chance (or luck). When bad things happen to good people, it has nothing to do with luck. God’s allows the ups and the downs, and the good and the bad. We might not like it, and we might not always understand it, but we can rest assured that it is for ultimate good—maybe not even our own. Likely, it’s to draw us closer to Him.
So perhaps a better question is, “What’s LOVE got to do with it?” Thanks Tina Turner for your amazing song, but that’s not the kind of love we’re talking about here. God’s Love has everything to do with it—His unconditional, all-encompassing love in the form of blessings. He goes to great lengths to show us this love.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son to die for us.” —John 3:16
It seemed unlucky for Jesus to be born where and when He was, to be betrayed by one of His own (for a mere 30 pieces of silver), to be denied by one of His own (more than once), to be abandoned by those closest to Him in His last hours on this earth, and to die such a brutal death on the cross.
But lucky for us—He did.
The question remains, “What’s luck got to do with it?” Nothing. Jesus knew He was the Son of God right from the beginning of time—the first chapter of Genesis tells us so. His cruel fate was not based on being in the wrong place at the wrong time; no, it was based on being in the right place at the right time to fulfill God’s promises—to save us.
What’s love got to do with it? Everything. And it’s not a second hand emotion (thanks again Tina), it’s intentional on God’s part. So the next time you have the luck of the Irish, or are down on your luck, perhaps you should consider the source. Your heavenly Father, Who loves you so much, Who gave His only Son, Who keeps His promises, and Who loves you unconditionally—even when we do not recognize it or deserve it—is at the heart of these blessings. Praise God from Whom all Blessings flow!
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." —Ephesians 1:3