Hopes for the Donkey and You

 Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!  Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey…

 Dear Readers, as you approach your Palm Sunday and Holy Week,  I am hoping for you as the poet hopes for the donkey.  Be brave. Trust Jesus. Serve Jesus. Love Jesus.

 The Poet Thinks About The Donkey by Mary Oliver

                On the outskirts of Jerusalem

the donkey waited.
Not especially brave, or filled with understanding,
he stood and waited.

How horses, turned out into the meadow,
   leap with delight!
How doves, released from their cages,
   clatter away, splashed with sunlight.

But the donkey, tied to a tree as usual, waited.
Then he let himself be led away.
Then he let the stranger mount.

Never had he seen such crowds!
And I wonder if he at all imagined what was to happen.
Still, he was what he had always been: small, dark, obedient.

I hope, finally, he felt brave.
I hope, finally, he loved the man who rode so lightly upon him,
as he lifted one dusty hoof and stepped, as he had to, forward.