Divine Birthday Revelations
Happy birthday to me, y’all! Yesterday was the day of my birth 49 years ago. That’s 1974, for those of you who may not be super quick at math. Remember when the 1970s weren’t that long ago? And suddenly, in the blink of an eye, the decade in which I was born has gone from outdated to vintage. We Genaration X’ers are a badass group of middle age folks though, aren’t we? Adaptable and resilient, sensitive and strong, responsible and fun. We know lots of stuff because we lived through lots of stuff. And I am grateful for all of it, even the shit parts. If I have learned nothing else in almost half a century, I have definitely learned that you have to wade through some shit sometimes if you want to get to the good stuff. I also learned there is so much good stuff on the other side of shit rivers. So if you are currently wading through shit, pull your boots up high and keep trudging. I promise it’s worth it!
I wanted to write this post yesterday on my actual birthday, but I have been so busy with kids and home projects and now planning for summer vacations that I never got around to it. I had even contemplated not writing a birthday post at all except it isn’t really polite to not acknowledge and highlight divine revelations.
I mean, I did acknowledge them at the moment when they occurred. I had no choice really since I involuntarily began laughing and crying simultaneously in the strangest, most healing way. It was a little weird, but I am a spiritual woman so I just rolled with it and enjoyed the emotions that were washing over me. Literally washing over me because I was in the shower when it happened. Most of my epiphanies seem to occur in the shower. There must be something about washing away the outside world while you are naked and vulnerable that creates an ideal environment for divine revelations to be received.
Now you are probably thinking I should stop rambling and get on with it already. Okay! But first look at some pictures of my birthday outfit. Not my birthday suit. My birthday outfit!
So I was taking a shower the other day and I was mentally debriefing a lesson I had given to the children the day before about St. Anthony of Padua when these revelations occurred.
I am not Catholic, I was not raised in the Catholic Church, but I converted to Catholicism for a brief time when I was married to my first husband. Upon our divorce, he requested an annulment which resulted in my official excommunication from the Catholic Church. I had it on official letterhead from the Archdiocese of Patterson, New Jersey, and everything. I wish I still had that piece of paper because it always makes me chuckle. This is one of many reasons that I call myself a spiritual woman and not a religious woman. For example, those who are spiritual may find they identify closely with the practices of the Wicca Academy. Wiccans are not religious and do not adhere to strict religious tenets. They are a spiritual group, which is significantly different from religion and much more to my personal spiritual taste.
Anyway, back to St. Anthony. I am not sure when I learned of St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost things, or the prayer to St. Anthony which asks for his help in finding something you have misplaced. But I have been relying on this prayer for as long as I can remember. So I taught it to my kids and their friend the other day when Ralph misplaced his iPad. We all looked everywhere to no avail so I suggested we pray to St. Anthony together…
Dear Saint Anthony, Please come around. Ralph’s iPad is lost And must be found.
They were confused at first since praying is not really a thing we do in our house but I asked them to trust me and just try. After we all chanted the prayer with conviction a few times (I also had to teach them about doing things with conviction), I instructed them to go back and look for the iPad in all the same places we had just looked, especially the most obvious places. Because in my expereince, St. Anthony and the angels sometimes like to hide things and play tricks on us just to keep us on our toes. And sure enough, when they looked again the iPad was right there. In the spot where four of us had looked and could not find it. They all looked at me with raised eyebrows and asked how I did that, a common reaction to St. Anthony’s hide and seek games. In that moment, it occurred to me that St. Anthony has literally never failed to answer me in all the years that I have been chanting that prayer. Never. He has always brought back whatever I had lost.
It was this train of thought that led me to my shower philosophizing. For as long as I can remember, I have felt the protection of a very strong guardian angel in my life. Long before I experienced the loss of any loved ones (I feel my lost loved ones watching me over me as well). I have often wondered who this guardian angel might be. Suddenly, it came at me like lightning that it very well could be St. Anthony.
Although I am spiritual, I am not a blind believer. I need to test theories before I will buy them, even my own theories.
The first revelation was that St. Anthony was once just a human being like me and as a saint he likely does not discriminate based on religion or spirituality. But why would this most famous of Catholic saints choose to watch over an insignificant excommunicated heathen like myself? The second revelation was that the spiritual world must evolve in tandem with the physical world. As souls inhabit the earth and have modern day experiences, surely this impacts and changes the spiritual realm as well. And maybe modern day St. Anthony has a certain fondness for between-the-box people like me. The third revelation was that perhaps it isn’t fondness at all that compels St. Anthony to watch over me. Maybe, just maybe, I actually am important enough to warrant divine protection. And the fourth revelation, the big one, was that maybe we are all important in divine ways that we don’t ever get to understand. Keep that fourth one in your pocket. It will come in handy one day.
Even as the revelations continued to pour in, I still doubted. So I headed to the old internet to see if I could find any connections between myself and this saintly Portuguese priest. I thought I might find a few coincidences that could be discounted as purely fortuitous. But I threw chance out the window when I discovered these curious congruities.
St. Anthony was canonized on May 30, 1232. I was born on May 30, 1974. His most significant symbolic religious attribute is his Franciscan habit, or his long flowy robes. And you know how I love my long flowy robes! His other attributes include a lily (my favorite of all the flowers), a book of psalms which he wrote notes in (before laptops, I always had a notebook filled with poetry in my hand), and his tonsure, or shaved head (I shaved my head 3 times with purposeful devotion). He is often depicted holding an infantile Jesus and sometimes he has a mule. I cannot draw a parallel to holding baby Jesus but I have been compared to a mule many times!
Another similarity I discovered is our shared fondness for words. St. Anthony was a very skilled orator known for his powerful and moving sermons. He did not bequeath any public speaking talent to me, but I have always referred to written words as my super power. While St. Anthony originally hailed from Lisbon, Portugal, he died in Padua, Italy, not very far from where my paternal ancestors originated. And one other oddly specific connection that I found is that St. Anthony is also the patron saint of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. I have long felt a deep and strong spiritual and cultural connection to the indigenous tribes of North America. In fact, much of my spiritual belief system includes a variety of tribal ideas and practices. And one final fascinating connection that came to me as an afterthought. When I was 8 years old, long before I was familiar with St. Anthony, I was given the honor of choosing my newborn brother’s name. Out of the thousands of boy names that I could have picked, I chose Anthony.
And there you have it. My divine birthday revelations. St. Anthony is one of my guardian angels. He does not discriminate. The spirit realm evolves in direct relation to the physical world. I deserve divine protection. We all deserve divine protection because we are all important in ways which we don’t always get to know or understand.
Do those count as revelations? Would that be enough to convince you?
If I go missing over the next few weeks, it will likely be due to computer issues. My T has been sticky for months and it finally stopped responding completely. So now whenever I need a letter T, I have to copy and paste it in. It is extraordinarily tedious to type when you have to copy and paste every single letter T. So I may stop posting until I get it fixed. Arrghhh. I have an appointment with the Geek Squad tomorrow. Hopefully, it is a quick and easy repair!
Keeping it on the edge,
Shelbee
Joining these Fabulous Link Parties.
Outfit Details: Dress-Kohl’s / Duster and Belt-Torrid / Boots-Idyllwind Fueled by Miranda Lambert (Boot Barn) / Bag-Burlington Coat Factory / Hat–Wona Trading / Earrings-Michal Golan / Necklace-???
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
I am a midlife woman, wife, and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.
20 Comments
Nancy
And that all occurred to you while showering? Wow, lol. I was once at a paranormale event a and a lady there said to me that I had a lot of angels around me. It was 20 years ago, I wonder if they are still there. I hope you had a fabulous birthday and I want to read all about it. God luck with your t!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Hahaha. I have lots of wonderful epiphanies in the shower! It is the best place for thinking. You absolutely have an army of angels around you, my friend, because you definitely deserve divine protection!
xoxo
Shelbee
jodie filogomo
Totally great revelation, and loved the story about the iPad. Funny how that happens.
Happy birthday to a magnificent woman,
XOXO
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Jodie, my friend, thank you so very much! I had a lovely birthday that included a super fruitful thrifting adventure!
xoxo
Shelbee
Your True Self
Hi, Shelbee
Happy birthday! Your outfit is indeed very pretty. 🙂 I’ll back up your revelations as true because you have way more than three things in common with St. Anthony. Although I was brought up Catholic and was a very devout child, as I grew up I put my faith in spiritual growth rather than one organized religion. Now, I simply call upon my own “finding powers” whenever I need to find something for myself or others. And it has worked every time for many years. So now that you are a believer that St. Anthony is your guardian angel, you can talk to him whenever you want! I agree with your other revelations. We are all deserving. Thanks for sharing your thoughts – Angie, http://www.yourtrueselfblog.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Angie, thank you so very much! I love that phrase “finding powers” and I love even more that they have worked for you for years! I have been leaning into Reiki energy a lot lately now that I have learned how and that has also been a really helpful spiritual guide for me. I definitely need to commune with St. Anthony more frequently now, not just when I have lost something! I also want to learn more about him but so far the internet has only given me some short bits of historical information. Maybe that’s all we know about him. So I guess I will have to find out for myself directly from the source! Ha.
xoxo
Shelbee
Sheila (of Ephemera)
Happy Birthday, Shelbee! I love your outfit. <3
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thank you so much, Sheila! I felt really pretty in this outfit! I hope you are well, my friend.
xoxo
Shelbee
Marsha Banks
First of all, the happiest of birthdays to you, my dear, dear friend! This world is a much better place for you having a place in it. Second, I am more a religious person in that I love the liturgy of my church and find lots of comfort in it…I’m a Lutheran…so, basically excommunicated en massed a half century ago! Third, I am beginning to embrace spirituality as I just can’t believe that God only allows certain people to enter into His kingdom. My Lutheran catechism teaches me it is only through the grace of Jesus that we enter. My belief in God, the Father, is that he wouldn’t leave others out because a) they didn’t/don’t know Jesus; b) that’s not very loving, and c) I think Mary, the mother of Christ, would have something to say about leaving out children of God!
Now, onto St. Anthony of Padua. I had never heard of him so I’ve never prayed to him. When I lose things, I hit up my mom and whatever other spirits happen to be around. This has happened so many times. We were in the Grand Canyon, and I lost a relatively expensive earring while out on a tour. We spent several minutes trying to find it…to no avail. I patted myself down (puffer jacket). Mike patted myself down (ulterior motive)….nothing! I was resigned to either never wearing the earrings again or buying a new pair. We got back to our room, and I looked skyward and said, “Mom or whatever haints are around, I really need that earring back. Can you help a girl out?” A bit later, I picked up my jacket, put my hand in the pocket and felt something. The pocket is attached and forms almost another pocket on the inside. My earring had somehow fallen into that cavity. But, I think Mom, the haints, or maybe St. Anthony put it there because I believed in them.
Now, onto your experiences with St. Anthony. I believe St. Anthony doesn’t really care that you’re an excommunicated Catholic. I believe he helps those who need it. I don’t think saints, God, Jesus, or the others discriminte based upon those things. My biggest question has always been this: If the grace of Jesus Christ allows us into Heaven, is Hitler there? If he asked for that saving grace as he was dying, was he granted it? I would like to think certain exceptions are made for truly evil people. Well, that was a book, right?
Now onto your birthday outfit! I absolutely adore this. I think it is quintessential Shelbee! And, you are as lovely as ever in it! I hope you celebrated with all of the wonderful things you deserve!
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Oh my goodness, Marsha, what a lovely comment for my birthday! I appreciate you so much! We definitely need to set up a virtual coffee date. I could discuss religion and spirituality all day long. It is and has always been one of my favorite topics. I think our spiritual beliefs are a huge part of our foundations as humans. Spirituality is, after all, an entirely human construct. No other creatures in the animal kingdom have religion yet we impose our religion on them anyway! Do all dogs really go to heaven? Do any Nazis go to heaven? Do really evil people believe their motives are good? If Hitler had won, would we all think he was right? Does the lack of negative intent ensure us a place in heaven? What the heck is heaven anyway? So many questions! I was a student of religion for a very long time (I have my undergraduate minor in Religion Studies) and the main thing I learned is that every world religion is essentially the same thing using different words and we are literally killing each other over these linguistic disagreements. And this is why I cannot call myself religious but prefer spiritual instead. This way, I can decide what I believe based upon my own experiences! Let’s chat soon, my friend!
xoxo
Shelbee
Sally in St Paul
I could not agree more with the idea that we are all important in ways we may never understand!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Sally! Keep shining bright, my friend!
xoxo
Shelbee
Michelle
First, that lemon yellow dress is an amazing color on you! (I love that color and cannot wear it.) And your whole outfit as fabulous!
Next, as you know, I’m an atheist. But I think we all do philosophical / spiritual exercises to gain clarity and the feeling of safety. A way to make order out of chaos. Every human – even atheists – need this in some way, shape, or form. I enjoyed reading about your latest spiritual epiphany! St. Anthony sounds like a wonderful guardian angel.
Also! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Michelle
https://followingmymuse.space
https://mybijoulifeonline.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Aw, thanks so much, Michelle! The dress is actually more of a really pale lime green, but it does appear more lemony in these photos. Either way, it’s a color that I never was able to wear before menopause! My skin tone has definitely changed over the last few years, which is kind of fun, because now I can wear colors that used to look awful on me. As for spirituality, I was thinking about atheism as I was writing this post because I do know quite a few atheists. But even atheism is a spiritual belief, isn’t it? It is a belief about spirituality that impacts your entire world view and those beliefs are super important to who we are. Gah. I could discuss these topics all day! We need to schedule in some more talk time next time I’m in Asheville!
xoxo
Shelbee
Michelle
Atheism is disbelief in a creator due to lack of evidence. Like present me with evidence and I will change my mind. 😄 But we all need something that gives us solace. For me, it’s astronomy. The science first, and then the wonderment about what’s out there. What kind of civilizations have existed? Because even if life is extremely rare, there must have been some in the billions of galaxies we know exist. It’s the same sense of wonder you experienced with your epiphany. And for me reincarnation is not about retaining any part of me in a new existence; it’s the knowledge that my matter and energy will return to the universe from which it came, and the universe will use it for something else. I’m okay with that.
The Buddhists, believe our lives are but a ripple in a the water from which we all came. I think my belief parallels that. But my belief also does not break any scientific laws as we know them. If we learned something new that conflicted with what I currently think is true, I would change my mind.
Thanks for this interesting topic!
xoxo
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Michelle, I love everything about this comment! And yeah, that creator stuff baffles me a bit. I don’t really buy it. In fact, I don’t really buy into much religion except for the spirituality part. I prefer a combination of science and spirituality and I feel like many organized religions don’t leave much room for science. Certainly there are forces bigger than us that move things forward, but I like to think of those forces simply as energy, or nature, which is basically science. But I also think that through this energy, we can connect with each other on levels deeper than just the physical plane. I do appreciate Buddhist philosophies much more than Christian ones! Oh, I could go on and on but it’s way more fun to have these discussions in person. Let’s make that happen one day!
xoxo
Shelbee
Tamar Strauss-Benjamin
Happy birthday!!!!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thank you so much, Tamar! I hope you are well and enjoying (or about to enjoy) your summer break!
xoxo
Shelbee
Alexandra
Happiest Birthday Wishes!!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Alexandra! I hope you are well!
xoxo
Shelbee