BJ Hoff's GRACE NOTES

Memorial Day 2012

Give thanks ... for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice that we might keep our freedom. 

Give thanks for the greatest nation in the world and wear the name 'American' with grace and pride.

 

 

And What Would You Be Wanting to Know about the Irish?

Among my personal collection of research books and just-for-reading-pleasure books is a treasury of books about Ireland and the Irish, the Irish  American immigration experience, Irish history, Irish poetry, proverbs, and short stories, Irish ways and Irish wisdom (oh, yes, there's a wealth of it), and just about anything you've ever wanted to know about the Irish or Irish Americans. 

In anticipation of St. Patrick's Day, this seemed like a good time to offer a few suggestions for those of you who might be looking to fill the gaps in your own knowledge of Erin's Children. Following are just a few of my favorites. Keep in mind that the list could go on and on.

BJ

 

The Story of the Irish Race by Seumas MacManus

Ireland and Her People by Terence Sheehy

The Book of the Irish Countryside (Collection) The Black Staff Press

A Seat Behind the Coachman by Diarmaid O Muirithe

The Green Flag (Volumes One, Two, and Three) by Robert Kee

Ireland Past and Present edited by Brendan Kennelly

Irish Traditions edited by Kathleen Jo Ryan and Bernard Share

Heritage of Ireland by Brian de Breffny

Hall's Ireland edited by Michael Scott

The Great Hunger by Cecil Woodham-Smith

This Great Calamity: The Irish Famine 1845-52 b y Christine Kinealy

Paddy's Lament by Thomas Gallagher

Famine by Liam O'Flaherty

The Great Shame by Thomas Keneally

Of Irish Ways by Mary Murray Delaney

Ireland: A Cultural Encyclopaedia Brian De Breffny, General Editor

Going to America by Terry Coleman

Emigrants and Exiles: by Kerby A. Miller

A Portrait of the Irish in America by William D. Griffin

Wherever Green Is Worn by Tim Pat Coogan

100 Irish Lives by Martin Wallace

May the Road Rise to Meet You by Michael Padden and Robert Sullivan

Celtic Design by Iain Zaczek

Ireland's Traditional Crafts by David Shaw-Smith

Irish Cooking by Ethel Minogue

Songs of the Irish by Donal O'Sullivan

Popular Irish Songs edited by Florence Leniston

An Irish Country Christmas by Alice Taylor

The Irish Christmas Book edited by John Killen

How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill

A Gift of Irish Wisdom by Cyril A. Reilly and Renee Travis Reilly

Emerald Isle (Poems and Quotations) compiled by Anna Nicholas

A Garland of Irish Verse edited by Gwynn Hayes

Ireland in Poetry edited by Charles Sullivan

 

 

 

A Christmas Prayer

May this be the Christmas when the world greets Him, not as a stranger to be swaddled in a manger, but as the sovereign King of everything, the Prince of Peace. May this be the Christmas when all the world becomes a Bethlehem, with every heart an open inn, where Christ, Emmanuel, may always dwell as Lord of Lords.

Christmas blessings

BJ

 

Hope for the New Year

I see your hand, Lord, in everything around me--and in every aspect of my life I seek your will. I see your plan, Lord, in all the years behind me--and in the days and years to come, I'll trust you still.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11

Happy New Year!

BJ

 

This Christmas ...

May this be the Christmas when the world greets Him, not as a stranger to be swaddled in a manger, but as the sovereign King of everything, the Prince of Peace. May this be the Christmas when all the world becomes a Bethlehem, with every heart an open inn where Christ, Emmanuel, may always dwell as Lord of Lords.

Merry Christmas to all!

BJ

 

Little Known Facts about our Favorite Christmas Carols

Although “The First Noel” wasn’t published until the 1800s, it’s most likely one of the oldest Christmas carols in existence—at least 500 years old. Because few people could read when the carol began to be sung, the words were probably based on stories told over the years about the birth of Christ. It was a custom during the middle ages to cut and fill a large log (the Yule log) with oils and spices, lighting it on Christmas Eve and allowing it to burn through the twelve days of Christmas. Families of English peasants often sang “The First Noel” as they lighted the Yule log.  

 

 

 

Little Known Facts about our Favorite Christmas Carols

The Christmas carol recorded and sung most often is “Silent Night.” A number of stories have circulated about the carol (written in the early 1800s by Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber) over the years, one having originated during World War 1. Supposedly on Christmas Eve of that year, fighting on several fronts in Europe was halted while people listened to their radios as opera star, Ernestine Schumann Heink, sang the beloved carol. For a few minutes at least, peace settled over the war-torn nations.  Schumann Heink, incidentally, had one son in combat with the Germans and another fighting with the Allied forces. 

 

One Night in Bethlehem

 

One night in Bethlehem, beneath a singing sky, 
A royal Prince gave up His throne,
A Shepherd came to seek His own,
The Savior of the world was born
One night in Bethlehem. 

BJ (from Songs of a Christmas Night)

Christmas Peace

Peace must be more than a word embossed upon our Christmas cards, echoed in the season's carols, or painted on a storefront. It can be found only in a Person, experienced only in a Presence ... for Christ, and Christ alone, is our Peace.

BJ

 

"Writerly" Gifts

This is the season of the year when we spend a lot of time thinking about gifts, even before we get around to making them or purchasing them. Naturally, our first thought during this festival of giving should be of the greatest gift of all: the Child Who changed history and brought hope to a hopeless world ... the gift that will always be, for His followers, the incomparable, shining, enduring gift, the only gift that could reflect the love of God in all its glory and wonder and splendor.

As writers, we often speak of our "gift" when we refer to our what we do. But what does this gift of writing encompass? What's it made of? How, exactly, has God "gifted us" for the work He placed upon our hearts? And not just our gifts--the "writerly" ones--but the gifts that enable each of us to do what we're called to do. He gives different gifts to teachers than to surgeons, different gifts to musicians than to artists, and different gifts to writers than to scientists. As writers, how aware are we of those gifts that work together to form the abilities and skills, the artistry and rhythms, the stories and word pictures of our craft?

Surely imagination would rise to the top of any list. Without that inexplicable, elusive, and at times the seemingly mystical ability to think and imagine--how would we ever begin, and continue, to write? No one can actually define it, nor can we ever hope to understand it. Because imagination is a gift. A part of who and what we are, certainly--but a gift all the same.

What  about patience? And perseverance? The will and the willingness to "keep on keeping on," to remain steadfast when it would be so much easier to stop and rest, or to quit altogether.

And can you imagine how difficult it would be--if it were even possible at all--to go on writing if no one in the world cared whether we ever penned another word? If we had to labor without the love and support of our families and friends--and, yes, our editors and publishers? Sometimes that faithful, unflagging support group is the only motivation we have to continue on, especially in the early years when it seems as though no one is ever going to want to read anything we write.

Gifts. Each and every one of them, all of the above...they're special gifts.

So in the midst of making lists and choosing gifts, I'm also trying to take a moment when and where I can to say thanks for the loved ones for whom I purchase every gift ... and especially for the One Who gave me everything He knew I'd need in order to imagine, to be patient, to persevere and be encouraged and sustained all along the way in this journey of being a writer.

BJ