Today’s Scripture: Psalm 150 (We will return to Genesis tomorrow.)
Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heaven!
2 Praise him for his mighty works;
praise his unequaled greatness!
3 Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn;
praise him with the lyre and harp!
4 Praise him with the tambourine and dancing;
praise him with strings and flutes!
5 Praise him with a clash of cymbals;
praise him with loud clanging cymbals.
6 Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
Today’s Devotional
This is the story of how I found myself crying in the Tyson’s Corner Kaiser Permanente Office. Well, not full-on crying. But definitely tearing up.
Like a lot of you I’ve been waiting for my turn to be vaccinated. I am in group 1-B but my particular group had not been released as of last week. However, on Friday afternoon I got an “appointment ticket” e-mail from Kaiser. To be honest I don’t even remember signing up with Kaiser to be notified when I could be vaccinated. But I must have. I opened the appointment ticket and was given a slot to come to Tyson’s and get my first shot.
When Sunday afternoon came around, I made my way to the Kaiser building – no big deal. Parked in the deck – no big deal. Waited in line with a lot of people – kinda a big deal, but I got over it. And then finally made it to the nurse who would give me my shot – again no big deal.
Only at this moment I found myself get quite emotional. I held it in. After all, I didn’t want to cry in front of the nurse – who knows what she would think of that! But I could feel waves emotion pouring over me. What the heck? I was not prepared.
After my jab, I sat down in the waiting area and had to catch myself from crying once again. I looked around at all the people in the room who had just been vaccinated and let the enormity of the situation sink in. This is how the pandemic ends. This is how the death and disruption and anxiety and worry and frustration finally end. It will be a slow end, to be sure. But I was seeing the begining of it right in front of me and the emotions of the moment got me. The people in this room may have lost loved ones to the virus. They may be dealing with mental health issues stemming from isolation. They certainly had their lives upended, like all of us. But here in this room – it was ending.
As I started to write this devotional the only scripture that came to mind was this one – Psalm 150. There were no tambourines and blasts of ram’s horn in the Kaiser Permanente building last Sunday – but there could have been. Maybe there should have been. This has been a trying time – and it’s not over yet. But as we start to see vaccines spread and infection rates comes down the only response is “Praise the Lord!”
Today’s Prayer
Thank you God for scientists who worked so hard getting all of us to this point. Thank you for continuing to see us through. Thank you for walking beside us every step of the way. We praise you for your care, your love, your protection. Amen
P.S. If you are having any doubts about getting a vaccine, please reconsider. The more people who get vaccinated the quicker life returns to “normal”. Vaccines are safe and effective. I encourage everyone to get one.
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