By Nancy Virden (c)2025

St. Patrick’s Day evolved into a drink fest to the degree that it is almost what people expect. To be Irish is to drink it is said, and if you are not Irish you can pretend to be. “Irish for a Day” signs are seen all over Cleveland, perhaps where you live too.

What is a person to do who does not want to drink? The following ideas may help and perhaps you can think of your own.

1. Stay home. If you are subject to temptation at parties, and feel insecure about your strength to say no, stay home with your iced tea and relax. Take a bath, watch a family movie, read a book, do brain puzzles, or enjoy a hobby.
2. See other sober friends. These friends may want to join you for a game or a good deed. Go to a meeting and to a movie afterward. Have your own dry party.
3. Be productive. Keep your mind busy and create, finish your taxes, learn something new, or complete a task you’ve been procrastinating. Accomplishment can provide a greater sense of well-being and peace than escaping through alcohol or drugs.
4. Be active. Move your body. Sports, cleaning, dancing, and gardening (not in March in many places), will get your blood pumping and you can focus on your goal. You will be more tired and sleep better.

Saint Patrick was not about drinking or snake removal. He was a man who loved and served God the best he knew how. He obeyed the Christian’s mandate to go and tell the world about Jesus and the salvation available to all who would believe. As a missionary and evangelist, he brought the Christian faith to Ireland. We may wish to honor such a man.

Our worship of God is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. That includes obeying his commands, one of which is to avoid drunkenness. He wants us in control of our faculties so we will not forget to live by the Holy Spirit’s lead and fall into sin.

-COMMENTS WELCOME

Today’s Helpful Word

Colossians 1: 9-10

So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

If you are feeling suicidal, or concerned about someone who is, in the U.S. call 988, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. For a list of international suicide hotlines, go here.

If you are suicidal with a plan, immediately call 911 in the U.S. or go to your nearest emergency room. In the EU call 112. (For other international emergency numbers, go here ). Hope and help are yours!

Always the Fight Ministries (ATFM) has been displaying compassion for those fighting mental illness, addiction, or abuse since 2012. Nancy is the founder and voice of ATFM and openly shares her emotional resurrection from despair. 

NOTE: Nancy is not a doctor or a mental health professional, and speaks only from personal experience and observations. This website is not intended to substitute for professional mental or behavioral health care.

_{HOLY BIBLE, NEW LIVING TRANSLATION, COPYRIGHT © 1996, 2004, 2015 BY TYNDALE HOUSE FOUNDATION. USED BY PERMISSION OF TYNDALE HOUSE PUBLISHERS, INC., CAROL STREAM, ILLINOIS 60188, PER BIBLE GATEWAY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. RETRIEVED FROM HTTPS://WWW.BIBLEGATEWAY.COM/}