What’s Green Mean to You?

[Holed up inside with the flu…YUCK…the only thing green that I’m thinking of right now is being green with envy that I can’t fully enjoy this amazing weather we’re having! But rather than dragging you further into my funk, I thought I’d re-post my post from St. Patty’s Day last year about … the meaning of green. Enjoy the read … and getting outside!]

There’s probably no other day that people think of green more than they do today…St. Patrick’s Day.

After I got home from my workout this morning…plumb-tuckered-out and completely forgetting that today was St. Patty’s Day…and wearing no green, I might add…I was ambushed and pinched by Littlest One…all decked out in her green shoes, green watch, green headband, green ribbons in her hair, and a green shamrock pin to top it all off.

After swatting her off of me I realized that she wasn’t being sassy…but just having fun with today’s theme…green!

So what’s the deal…why the color green? And…why all the pinching?!

Not really knowing the answers to these questions, I did a quick search and I learned a few things…thanks mostly to Wikipedia:

• Green is representative of the shamrock…which is what is said Saint Patrick used to explain the Holy Trinity. The shamrock became so identified with Saint Patrick, that he’s often depicted with a cross in one hand and a clump of shamrocks in the other.

[Photo credit: Nella via Compfight cc]

• Interestingly, Saint Patrick was English…not Irish. But when he was 16 he was kidnapped by some Irish raiders who brought him to Ireland…where he lived as a slave and shepherd…for 6 years. After “finding God” he fled to the coast where he was picked up by a ship and brought back to England. After becoming a priest, he returned to Ireland to convert the Irish to Christianity. Saint Patrick later died in Ireland on March 17^th…St. Patrick’s Day…and since then he’s become Ireland’s most prominent saint.
• With all of this…and green being closely associated with Ireland…the Emerald Isle, since the 1600s …wearing green in honor of Saint Patrick, only makes sense. And better yet, as Littlest One did today, it’s best if shamrocks are part of your get-up.
• Finding out what all the pinching is about wasn’t as straight forward. But what seems to be the most common explanation is…and according to eHow (yea, the end-all-be-all on St. Patrick’s Day, right?)…it’s all about making yourself invisible to Leprechauns. Apparently, this American tradition was started to warn the pinchee to put something green on. Otherwise a Leprechaun could see you…and then they would likely do something worse than give you a pinch.

So that’s what green’s all about relative to St. Patrick’s Day. What’s it mean to you? What do you think of when you see or think of green?

Being environmentally conscious? Nature? Money? Luck (think shamrock)? Go (think traffic light)? What?

And you can probably guess what green means to me…being an outdoorsy landscape guy. In general, I do think of nature. But I also very quickly think of Britt’s beautiful green eyes…and Britt’ mini-me, Littlest One…who also has green eyes.

I’d say though…that what I really think about is life…and growth? Sure…that goes back to nature…but I tend go even deeper than that.

Yes, RYG is all about your landscape and getting outside more…nature.  But this Redeem Your Ground journey has given me an even richer, deeper meaning to the color green. It’s brought my family life. But it hasn’t been easy…as in the high-on-the hog, good kind of life. In fact it’s definitely been the most difficult thing we’ve ever done. And with that has come a ton of pruning…which in turn brings new life…growth.

Ah…deep huh? Okay…enough about me.

So what does green mean to you? You may as well think about it and get something else out of St. Patrick’s Day…other than just a pinch or two.

Take care friends & Happy St. Patty’s Day!