Boats and Blessings...

Everyday is something and that's what keeps me busy. Today is the blessing of the chalk. It's an Epiphany Tradition, more well known in Europe where I made this photo on a visit in 2016 than in the U.S.A. The C, M, and B stand for the three Kings, always one of my favorite stories so you have old Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, the plus is the cross and usually you have numbers representing the year before and after the letters. It's a witness of faith and a protection from evil for your home and you can't just write it up there in sharpie because the chalk represents that old dust to dust thing. You know 9 to the universe and that day you look forward to where you don't have to think about finding a sharpie when you need it because that's an irritating thing that also sometimes keeps me busy.  

One time I had a priest friend out to the house. It's been a long time ago. Probably we had dinner but I don't remember what was on the menu and I certainty don't remember any topics of conversation from the evening but as we began our goodbyes and all trooped to the door he said, "I should bless your house," and produced a bottle of Holy Water, began a Sprinkling Rite with blessing and our exit turned into a little procession on into the garage. 

In the garage was where we kept our old pontoon boat in those days. It was a bit smaller than the current pontoon boat and we had not yet hit those prime earning years where we could built a detached boat garage so that old boat was always right there in the middle of everything and as out priest led procession wound out the door I noticed drops of Holy Water hitting everything everywhere including the boat. 

Later I told Cathy, "the boat has been blessed. We are really going to catch some fish now." She replied that's not what the blessing was for. "It's to keep your happy ass from falling out of it" she said. 

That blessing worked. I never fell out of the boat. A few other people did but I was always there to pull them back in so I guess the blessing worked for them also. Actually as I think about that old boat and that blessing and how I might not have been very far down the path of spirituality, faith or enlightenment or whatever you want to call it I recall that the priest never asked what it was I was going to do in that house or use that boat for. It was unconditional. It was looking to the future.           

I dug around and could not locate a photo of that old boat. None have been digitalized. I did have a photo of this older boat with me in it and as I think about it I never fell out of it either. I probably should have as at the time I was about 10 feet tall and bullet proof but they say, "the Lord works in mysterious ways." Another priest friend told me once that, "you never know what she's thinking." 

Some years after the blessing of the boat Cathy was passing a boat show and whipped in and traded that old boat on a new one. They accepted the trade in sight unseen but they did ask what condition it was in and I was honest saying, "I have hit every stump in Sam Rayburn lake with that boat." They offered a good price. I forgot to mention it had been blessed. 

What I call the new boat is almost 20 years old. I haven't had it blessed. I haven't fell out of it either. That old boat was mostly aluminum and is probably long scrapped. Hopefully it was recycled into something useful and is still a blessing for others.  

Though we live half a country apart I'm still friends with that priest and I occasionally get a text or social media blessing from him. I'll get some chalk later today at church.