Lean In has become the mantra of Western women who dare to ask what they might do if they weren’t afraid. But, long before Sheryl Sandberg’s book, there was Elisha Hoffman’s hymn Leaning On The Everlasting Arms. It is also about facing fears.
What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.Refrain:
Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Lean Into Jesus
What fears are you facing this week? After all these years, I am still learning to lean into Jesus.
Palm Sunday is just a few days away, and oh, how I love it! The waving of palm branches at church, the joyous entry into Jerusalem.
Sing Hosanna, Sing!
It’s a day that brings back the finest memories of my childhood. We waved palm branches up and down the aisles and in the pews as we celebrated the joyous entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. I loved thinking about that Jesus — the one in the Sunday School lithographs riding low on the donkey. All the people crowded around to see the Nazarene. The Man from Galilee. The Jesus who forgives and forgets.
I hated thinking about him dying. Hated thinking about Golgotha and driving nails. They were always lurking in the sunny background of the lithographs of joyful villagers and cherubs. They might be waving palm branches today, but next week they’d ask for Barabbas and take our Jesus away to Calvary.
Even as a child He meant more to me than chocolate bunnies, colored eggs, and new Easter shoes. He was the reason for it all, and I felt Him in me and through me.
Paul the Apostle wrote:
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
He was there so many times when I know I could have died. He reached out to me, saying “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see your King is Coming!” I stared down death even when I didn’t know I was being brave. Like that time in 1996 when I went to Atlanta for a conference. The shuttle driver passed my hotel and kept on going. He drove me 20 miles to the outskirts of town and parked in a dark, empty parking lot. Later, I learned it was his first night on the job, and he’d broken company policy when he brought one of his buddies to work with him.
Sitting there in the dark, something bad about to go down, all I knew to do was talk to them about their dreams. After several minutes, they started the van and drove me back to my hotel.
I was safe and secure from all alarms.
Here are some vintage Palm Sunday pictures from around the Internet. May the joy of Palm Sunday and Christ’s entry into Jerusalem fill you with hope. For no matter what you face, you will overcome the world.
From the Book of John
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Vintage Palm Sunday Pictures
