I Love This Parade!

           Do you like parades? The marching bands, the floats on which famous people, princesses, beauty queens, and dignitaries ride, or how about the clowns? Maybe you like the horse patrols or the special performances often associated with parades. Maybe you’re a crowd person—just being in the hustle and bustle of the event charges you with excitement.

            I remember that as a kid I loved watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, which was always closely associated with the delicious smell of roast turkey. We never missed the Rose Parade on New Year ’s Day because my father grew roses commercially, and we always marveled at the floats created from flowers and wondered if Dad’s roses ever made it into the parade, unbeknownst to us. Those were my favorite parades and my favorite way to view them—from afar. I’m not a crowd person, and from a distance is my favorite parade-viewing vantage point.

            Lately I’ve found a parade that thrills me, though.

            This week I was a little blue and in need of Jesus, especially because I was leading our discipleship group. (Who needs a struggling facilitator?) What scriptures to bring? What was I going to read? All I could think of was how much I needed Jesus that afternoon, and the tenderness of Psalm 23 came to mind. Everyone knows it, but I needed it, even though I didn’t have anything fresh to say about it.

            But Jesus did. And he didn’t say it to me at the group; he said it to me later, privately.

            Before bed I read the Psalm again, slowly. How beautiful, rich yet simple. As I read past the verses I would read to the group, I got stuck on verse six. Now I’ve learned that when you get stuck because you’re struck by something scripture says, don’t buzz past it. Stop! That’s for you to think about. So I did.

            Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life… (vs. 6 NKJV)

            Goodness and mercy were following me? Yes, they were. Then in my mind I didn’t just view good concepts following me; Goodness and Mercy became a couple of strong guys in my wake—walking down the hallway at work, in the back seat of my car. They were behind me everywhere, emissaries of Jesus bringing me goodness and mercy from my Lord. We were—we are—a parade. When I shared my mental picture with a coworker, she said, “Doesn’t it make you smile?”

            And it does. This is the best parade I’ve ever experienced.

            But there was even more that I got stuck on. Goodness and Mercy will follow me all the days of my life. All? All? When I read that word, I couldn’t move away from it. On days when the sky is azure and painfully beautiful, on days when there is such a deluge of rain I can hardly see (and I experienced both this week), Goodness and Mercy are still there filling my life. And simply for this reason:  When Jesus says all, that’s exactly what he means—ALL.

            I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t. I said all out loud. Then I said it louder and louder. ALL. ALL! ALL!! All  the days of my life—however few or many—Goodness and Mercy will be on my heels!

            We are a parade!