ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Three or Four Leafed Clover

Updated on January 23, 2013

Good and Bad Luck

When something good or bad happens in someone's life we often say, "Oh, that was lucky!" or "Oh, bad luck." If a student is about to sit for an examination, we may say, "I wish you good luck." If a friend goes fishing and we ask how he thinks he will go, he may reply, "Well, I'm just going to try my luck." When he returns and we ask if he caught any fish, he might answer, "No such luck." He may add, "Apparently I'd taken the wrong kind of bait for those fish, worse luck." If a person is short of cash, she may say, "I'm down on my luck at the moment."

The Concept of Luck

The notion or concept of luck has been around for a long time. Ovid was positive about it, he said, "Luck affects everything; let your hook always be cast. In the stream where you least expect it, there will be fish." However other ancients took a different view; Seneca wrote, "Luck never made a man wise."

The concept of luck seems to be in most languages and cultures and is to be found in their proverbs, as well. It is interesting that a number of them seem to be connected with the sea and with fishing. The French say, "No gulls, no luck," while the Arabs say, "Throw a lucky man in the sea and he will come up with a fish in his mouth."

So what is this luck? It is when something either good or bad happens and we consider that it is due to the power of chance. Some define it as 'accidental good or bad fortune.'

Four-leaf Clover
Four-leaf Clover | Source

Good Luck Charms

Some people carry good luck charms in their pockets or they may wear them in a locket or on a bracelet. It may be a 'lucky' coin that they found or tiny silver or gold charms they have purchased or been given and have added to a charm bracelet.The good luck charm may be a preserved four-leaf clover that they bought or were given. The idea of encouraging good luck is deep-seated.

  • In the USA, it has been discovered that there is an extra gene in the clover plant that causes it to make leaves with four leaflets, rather than the usual three. There are now farms that grow these plants by the thousand. Lucky for them. However, it is thought to be luckier if the four-leaf clover is actually found, rather than purchased.

This interest in clover is often credited to St. Patrick, but that was far from his intention.

St. Patrick and the Shamrock

Who was St. Patrick? He is traditionally thought of as being of Scottish descent. His parents lived in Birdoswald, a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall. Young Patrick was captured when he was about twelve and taken to Ireland as a slave. After some years he escaped and returned home. Later, with a group of friends, he went back to Ireland as a Christian missionary. This occurred during the 300 - 400s AD.

St. Patrick and the Trinity: One day, as Patrick was explaining about the Trinity, he took a leaf of a shamrock plant (which is similar to a clover leaf) to show that, although there were three separate leaflets, they together made up one whole leaf. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are One.

St. Patrick's Day: By the seventh century, Patrick had been declared the Patron Saint of Ireland. St. Patrick's Day is 17th March and the shamrock leaf is the central symbol for St. Patrick's Day.

Three-leaf Clover: Christian Reminder of the Trinity
Three-leaf Clover: Christian Reminder of the Trinity | Source

Blessed by God

Reminder of God: What would St. Patrick have thought about people carrying a four-leaf clover for luck? He wanted them to think of God each time they were in a field and saw the clover growing.

The Three-leaf Clover: Another way of looking at the three-leaf clover is taken from 1 Corinthians 13: faith, hope and love. Faith in God the Holy Spirit means that we trust that He will guide us in our lives; hope for eternal life is through the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins and He is our Mediator; our love for God is a faint mirror of the Father's love for us, for, as the Bible tells us, God is Love.

Christians Do Not Believe in Luck: As Christians, we should not rely on luck, either good or bad. It is our choice. If we rely on God instead, we find that what happens in our lives is not a matter of luck, chance or coincidence. If an incident occurs in our lives and we perceive it as being either good or bad, it does not matter. What is important is that God will use that incident to teach us and ultimately, through it, to bless us. Some people like to call such occurrences God-incidents.

When we allow God to guide us, He blesses us. Let us praise and thank Him.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)