Be the Branch (aka alone on Palm Sunday)

Maybe today you are craving community.  

Maybe for the first time in a long time, you're longing to be part of a Palm Sunday gathering. 

To celebrate the arrival of the Messiah into Jerusalem.  Knowing the horrible, beautiful thing that is to come.

Wishing you could be part of a throng that is throwing palm branches on the ground, crying out "Hosannah!"  Save us.

But instead of mourning the aloneness on this day of community, maybe we can celebrate it.  

Instead of being part of the crowd, let's be the palm branch.  

Picture laying yourself, your life, before the One who is life.  Who sacrificed Himself but then broke the grave wide open for you.  

Ponder it.  Rejoice in it.  Accept the gift that is today, in a new way.  Instead of mourning, sit in wonder and worship.

On this day when you cannot be part of the crowd, be the branch.

Blessings in the Distancing

So, here we are in the age of COVID19 and social distancing.

My college student begins online classes today. My high schooler is on day three of online learning. My husband is the lead for his health care system’s handling of the virus, so he’s on Day ?? of 24/7. And I’m on extra pound number 4.

My sisters and their families live in NYC, D.C.and Orlando. Things are beyond joking, the way they are here in N.C., where we’re earlier on the curve and people don’t understand why they shouldn’t go to the mall or why their favorite restaurant is offering only curbside service.

We’re still so early on the curve that people are still throwing around media conspiracy theories and political agendas as the reason for the current shutdown.

I’ve muted these people.

The reality is that perusing social media has made me anxious, angry and agitated. It’s not healthy. So I’ve decided that I’m just going to post snapshots of beauty in the midst of all this. That I will seek out things for which to be thankful. To open my eyes to the gifts in front of me and share them, in hopes that they brighten someone else’s day. Or just mine - I’m okay with that, too.

So this morning I created a new hashtag: #blessingsinthedistancing. Maybe you can join me and post/tag your pics!  Here's my first post. Peace and grace to you today ❤️

The Desert Road

Jesus wept.

Lazarus was suddenly sick. Shockingly gone. His sisters were suspended by grief. Disoriented, despairing. 

Then God. The Messiah entered into their pain. Not as one above it all, but as their friend, hating death and its sting right there with them. Jesus wept. 

Yes, He knew the resurrection miracle He would work. But that would come later. The comfort He brought to Mary and to Martha was Himself. The ministry of presence. The consolation of eternity. The grave-defying miracle would be for everyone else who needed proof of who He really was. God in the flesh.  

But for the sisters devastated by grief, Jesus’ comfort came before the miracle. They were consoled before it, without it. Because the comfort He brings isn’t the miracle. 

The comfort Jesus brings is that He “simply” enters into our grief with us as someone who has felt it.  As one who has tasted death.  And as the One who defeated it.  Yet who still weeps over the pain it wields in our hearts. 

Jesus wept. 

Jacob / Israel