Danny Boy

   “I would like you to imagine just for a moment that the time is 7:29 PM on the evening of St. Patrick’s Day. You are seated at a table at the far right of the front row in the dining room that doubles up as an auditorium when we put on entertainment for our elderly residents. All but two, and their many guests, are in attendance, eagerly awaiting the start of an evening of Irish music we have arranged for them, as we do every year.

   “I want you to understand that our St. Patrick’s Day entertainment is the highlight of the year for our residents. You might think Christmas was, but not everyone can go home to family and friends at that time and for those who can’t, Christmas can be a lonely time, no matter how hard we try to make it otherwise.

   “At precisely 7:30 PM, as planned, the curtain rises – to reveal an empty stage. In the ensuing silence you could have heard that proverbial pin drop. And then we heard it, very quietly at first, but then gradually getting louder: it was someone singing that perhaps best loved of all Irish ballads, Danny Boy.

Oh Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling,

From glen to glen and down the mountain side;

The summer’s gone and all the roses falling,

‘Tis you, ‘tis you must go and I must bide.

   “At this point the singer entered the rear of the dining room, having presumably started at the end of the hallway by the back door. Everyone turned to look at him, and what a splendid sight he made. Resplendent in green, he might have stepped straight off the stage of any of the world’s finest opera houses. Big of build and with a voice to match, he must have set many a heart a-fluttering throughout his singing career. His voice rising to a crescendo, he continued:

But come ye back when summer’s in the meadow,

Or when the valley’s hushed and white with snow.

‘Tis I’ll be here in sunshine or in shadow,

Oh Danny Boy, oh Danny Boy, I love you so.

   “Having followed him with our eyes as he slowly made his way down the length of the dining room, we watched as he mounted the platform and turned to face us. Moving the microphone quietly to one side with a knowing smile, he regaled us with the second, haunting verse.

But when ye come, and all the flow’rs are dying,

If I am dead, as dead I well may be,

Ye’ll come and find the place where I am lying,

And kneel and say an Ave there for me.

   “ Again that glorious build up on the way to that superb high ‘A’:

And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,

And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be,

For you will bend and tell me that you love me,

And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me.

   “After the rapturous, sustained applause had died away, the singer held us spellbound for the next hour with a quite marvelous rendition of all our favorite Irish songs, inviting us encouragingly to sing along with him. How the residents and their guests loved it.

   “At the end of the hour, the singer repeated Danny Boy for us, leaving the way he had come, his powerful voice eventually trailing away in the distance.

   “To this day I do not know who he was or how he came to be with us that St. Patrick’s Day. What I do know is what Jesus taught us and that is that, if you have faith in God, you can say unto this mountain, away with you and be you cast into the sea and it shall be done.

   “So let me tell you about my mountain. Knowing the importance of St. Patrick’s Day to our residents, as their activities director, I had started a whole year earlier to find them really first rate entertainment for the following year. It was hugely difficult. Understandably, top-notch performers do not put gratis entertainment at the top of their list. Eventually, I did find a young but impressive singer who told me frankly that, since he was just starting out in his career, he would welcome the exposure. He also assured me he would not let me down, even coming to check out our facility in advance so as to know where to set up his gear.

   “On St. Patrick’s Day eve - yes, literally the day before – he called to say he had come down with food poisoning and hence would not be able to perform for us, and no, he didn’t know who else to call.

   “By this time of course I had already printed out a little program advising one and all of the entertainment that had been arranged, while the dining room had long since been colorfully decorated with leaping leprechauns.

   “But perhaps most important of all was the build-up of excitement amongst the residents. For months now they had been asking me how the preparations were going, what was being arranged and how many guests could they bring.

   “In the beginning, when just nothing was happening, I would quietly remind them to have faith and all would be well; after all, I would add, you only need faith the size of a mustard seed to move a mountain.

   “I know,” I remember one resident telling me, “Your faith is legendary around here, Shirley.”

   “And so I quietly continued recalling some other words that Jesus said about faith. After we have asked God in faith for our mountain to be removed, we must not have any doubt in our heart that it will indeed happen; rather, we must truly believe that it will, in which case nothing shall be impossible for us.

   “The Bible tells us that faith is something we hope for, not evidence of something we have seen. I once heard it put this way. When Roger Bannister, as he then was, set out to run a four-minute mile, he didn’t know he could do it because it had never been done before: if it had, that would have been knowledge, not faith. But he had faith in his own ability, in his excellent and unselfish pacesetters and many other things besides. Thus, it came to pass and was not impossible for him.

   “The Bible also tells us that, whatever we do, we must do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto others, knowing that, in so doing, we shall serve the Lord Christ. God knew how diligently I had tried to make a success of our St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, hence I knew that my faith would not be misplaced.

   “And while all this was going on, God gave me something else to sustain me – that peace which passes all understanding. Jesus put it this way: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not the way the world gives it to you, but as I do. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

   “Consequently, I knew with absolute certainty that, as they say in the entertainment world, “all will be well on the night”, and it was. To the best of my knowledge, not one single resident or guest would ever have known what had occurred if I hadn’t told them. The program had advertised a vocalist and a vocalist had performed, magnificently as it happened. That I did tell them was because I wanted to build up their faith, as I want to build up yours.

   “So the next time you are faced with a mountain that needs to be removed – you’ve lost your job, let’s say, and you have to find another one because the Bible tells us if we don’t work we don’t deserve to eat – take it to the Lord in prayer. Have faith in Him, have no doubts, believe it will happen and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

   “And think of me, and if I shall have gone to my eternal rest, remember if you should pass my way:

And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,

And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be,

For you will bend and tell me that you love me,

And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me”.

For further reading: Mark 11:22-24; Matthew 17:20; Hebrews 11:1; Colossians 3:23-24; Philippians 4:7; John 14:27; 2 Thessalonians 3:10