By the time you read this, I’ll be on vacation in Ireland and Scotland, on the lookout for wonder. How did I pick those spots? Well, it’s kind of a funny story…
It all started this past summer. In June, my sister, Kristin, and I were throwing around ideas for our fall “sisters vacation.” We had our hearts set on Portugal, possibly Spain. Anywhere warm. But, on the train ride home from the beach one afternoon, Kristin proposed another idea. “What if we went to Ireland?”
She had this strange smile on her face. We laughed about her idea. Ireland was such a random choice, especially since Kristin despises cold, rainy weather. But I couldn’t get it out of my head. Confused, I asked God to lead us to the right destination.
Then things got weird. At the end of June, I headed uptown for a doctor appointment. As I handed the receptionist my insurance card, I glanced at her desk calendar. It was already flipped to July. Underneath a scenic photograph, in white type, was one word: Ireland.
It happened again when I exited the beach one weekend. I passed a vendor on the boardwalk selling posters. There, positioned directly at me, was a poster of a familiar place…Ireland.
I also got signs at work. At our Guideposts Prayer Fellowship meeting, Rick Hamlin brought in a stack of handwritten prayer requests. He pulled one letter from the towering stack and read it aloud–a prayer request for Northern Ireland. Even weirder, I was assigned to edit a story for Mysterious Ways magazine about a woman whose plane crashes off the coast of Ireland.
Another morning, I opened up the Guideposts homepage and found myself staring at Ireland again–this time, an article with the headline, “Explore Ireland’s Ancient East Region and Christian History.” Later, an ad popped up on a video I was watching. It proclaimed, “This is the year to visit Ireland.”
Kristin wasn’t convinced, though. She just didn’t want to spend a whole week in rain boots. God, if you want us to go to Ireland, I prayed, give Kristin a sign. In the meantime, we put Portugal and Spain back on the table. And yet… we couldn’t seem to make any progress with our plans.
Finally Kristin came clean. For whatever reason, she felt uneasy about Spain. But Ireland? It just felt right. Even if it would be cold and rainy. So we booked our tickets, and somehow convinced our other sister, Priscilla, to tag along.
The signs haven’t stopped. Just the other day, Kristin texted me the front page of a newspaper she found inside the subway terminal. The headline? “Fall for the Warmth and Wonder of Ireland.”
Of course, there may be some logical explanation for all this. Maybe Ireland is really, really good at marketing. Maybe they even send miniature calendars to doctor’s offices throughout the tri-state area in efforts to lure American sisters to their emerald hills.
But it’s clear to me that I’m being called to Ireland. So are my sisters. My only question…why? What do you think? Share your theories below!
