Pandemic Palms

For once in our lives

…we can say that we have something in common with every person on earth! 

We are all going through this pandemic together, like it or not!  

I have experienced 69 Palm Sundays In my life, and not one of them ever looked like this one. 

On Sunday, April 5, 2020, I will be having virtual Communion with my church.  And even the bread I baked for the occasion is not enough to offset this odd way to worship Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week, for me the most sacred time in the Christian calendar.

Notice I did not capitalize the word “pandemic” earlier.  I don’t want to give it any more power than it should have in my life. It already has way too much. 

But Holy Week, I’ll capitalize that!  I need to get some things in perspective.

I need to place power where power should be.

In John 12:12-13 we are told, “The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!”

Victory & Triumph…Goodness & Peace!

The palm branches strewn over the pathway for Jesus represented the path of victory and triumph. They also meant goodness and peace.  

Those in Jerusalem felt that Jesus was coming to be their political king, to save them from the Romans. But you know how that story goes. Jesus never does the expected thing. He had a different plan. He wasn’t there to rule the Romans. He was there because He rules the world.

First and foremost, He was the world’s savior. He is the King of Kings! 

Playing the long game!

And Jesus was playing the “long game” for mankind.

We, however, want the short game…the quick fix…always have…probably always will.

We want this pandemic OVER and DONE …wrapped up yesterday.

That’s how I have felt many times about this pandemic…I want it to be over.  I want to play my part, whatever that entails, and within a few weeks, a couple of months at the most, I want it to be over.  

I want that victory stroll into Jerusalem, palms at our feet, and I want to be gathered together for the feast with the ones I love, and I want that sooner rather than later. But that is not how pandemics go. And this one is playing a pernicious game of hide and seek as it also plays its own long game. 

I don’t know about you, but my prayer list has grown so long that it is in multiple sheets now.  Some I write on my refrigerator…others in those college lined spiral notebooks. 

Praying my way through.

I approach that prayer list as if I am doing battle…I am praying my way through this pandemic in more ways than one.  And when I remember that is my focus, I do a whole lot better.

The list reminds me of a shorter one I used in 2011 & 2013 when each of my knees took turns  being replaced with titanium. 

In the home recovery part where I was working to get a perfect straight leg and a perfect bending knee, there was an exercise that my skillful physical therapist ordered me to do. 

It was a killer exercise where you lie on your stomach, leg extended over the edge with a 5 pound weight holding it down. This torture is necessary for the straightening process to be fine tuned. 

The leg must be held straight out. And it is held for 5 minutes each time, several times a day. 

I am a strong, tough old bird, but this exercise always brought tears to my eyes…and each time that 5 minutes had the potential to feel like 5 days. 

To take my focus off of the pain and onto a better place, I laid a short prayer list in front of my eyes. This was a list of seemingly impossible issues that I brought before God.  

Prayers for friends, family, and one for myself.  I figured the most difficult requests would force me to concentrate all my mind, body and soul on those and nothing else.  

During that time of sacred torture, I prayed some of my most fervent prayers. With my leg in the air balancing a 5 pound weight, I offered it all to God, in 5 minute intervals of mind over matter.  

My habit was to set the timer. I was always surprised when it was over. Most of the time I continued praying as I lowered my body away from the pain. 

Relief would course through me and so would peace. 

God took a difficult time every day for many weeks and turned it into an altar of offerings. 

I praised Him, I offered names and problems to Him. I pled their cases to Him and I thanked Him.  Every time I would end those sacred times of suspension in peace…the peace of knowing without a shadow of a doubt that He would rescue each and every one on my list, including myself. 

The rescue may not look like we fashioned it…

The rescue may not look like we fashioned it, nor be answered in the instant time frame we preferred. But they were all answered. Each and every one of those, over the next few years were answered…His time.  His plan.  His way.

That’s how I need to refocus on this Palm Sunday.  

I don’t need a king to rule over the Romans.  As always, I need a Savior to rule over my life.  

Whether it is during a pandemic or during a plain old normal year, I need Him.

To get through this pandemic we must all do our part, in every city, every state, every country.

There is much to do and our worst days are yet to be experienced, but we must not let up…we must stay the course. 

We must balance the weight of it all on our bodies and minds, knowing that if we persevere, we can straighten this out. 

We must rely on science, on the good leaders, and on God!  

Those pieces are all part of our long game for this once in a lifetime pandemic.

As Ohio’s Director of Public Health, Dr. Amy Acton, says, “We have a choice” and “We need to be the force for GOOD.” 

A few years back, at a pivotal point in my life, my daughter gave me a necklace.  

On one side is a compass…

…and on the other it says “There is no shortcut to anywhere worth going.”  

No shortcut and no easy path. We just have to keep doing the next right thing…for the good of all mankind, at this pivotal time in our lives.

A very wise Paul said, “We must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap a harvest at the proper time if we don’t give up.”  Galatians 6:9

May the branches of Peace and Goodness be yours this Palm Sunday!  

Till we meet again…Around the Table!  

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Next week:  The Heroes Among Us!