PALMS & PALMS

Today is Palm Sunday.  The Sunday before Easter Sunday. The beginning of Holy Week.  This morning in Church the children started our service by coming down the aisle waving palm branches.  It was a sight to see.  I imagined in my mind the sight that  must have been  that day in 33 AD as Jesus came into the city on a donkey with people waving palms, a sign of victory and peace.

The palm branches will be stored after the service today and brought out again next year on Ash Wednesday where they will be burned to create the ashes that we will mark a cross on our foreheads with. I like that continuity, that connection from one Easter season to the next.

Palm trees are mentioned a lot in the Bible.  They are sturdy but flexible.   They don’t look as sturdy as for example a mighty oak tree. But let hurricane force winds hit a city and the palm tree usually still stands after the storm.  I like the vision, the symbolism of that.  The palm tree is strong but flexible.  That’s the kind of Christian I aspire to be. Strong but flexible.  Palm trees typically start to bear fruit 6 or 7 years after they are planted and they can continue to produce fruit for a 100 years.  I like that thought too. To know that the fruit of the spirit, the faith I proclaim will be passed down from generation to generation.

Then there is the other palm.  The palm of you hand.  That expression about having something in the palm of your hand means that you have possession of, command of something. Your future is in the palm of your hand a lot of graduate are told.  And so it is. They have the power, the control to make their life whatever they want it to be. 

And what a comfort to know that God has us in the palm of his hand.  We are in his possession and He has control over the circumstance in our lives.  When I was a kid I loved that song He’s got the whole world in his hands…..I could sing it for hours, making up verse after verse.

Today if I sang it it would be something like this:

He’s got the whole world, in his hands He’s got the whole world ,…..He’s got the whole world in his hands.

He’s got the answer to my problems, in his hands, He’s got the hurts that I’m feeling in his hands, he’s got my health and my safety in his hands, He’s got my whole life in his hands.

There’s an Allison Kraus song that I love called The Palm of His Hand.  The words I like best are:
But if I trust the One who died for me
Who shed His blood to set me free
If I live my life to trust in You
Your grace will see me through
I'd rather be in the palm of Your hand
Though rich or poor I may be
Faith can see right through the circumstance
Sees the forest in spite of the trees

May this week be a week of joy and reflection and a renewal of faith and hope for you as you rest in the palm of His hand.  Blessings…LeeAnn