My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,   

                                                                   Greetings to you in the mighty name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

 These are the times of meditation and seeking more and more, the presence of God . Seek Him. All the time. Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving. Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance , to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds (Colossians 4:2-3) .  Let us rediscover ourselves  in Christ who lives in us. We are His temple. So any time is prayer time. Any place  is  temple premises. Every action acceptable in His sight.  It is no longer I who live in the flesh , but Christ lives in me. (Galatians 2:20).  We read and confess this many times, but let us start living this. Now  !   Once the revelation really comes in the soul, our lives will be transformed for ever. Then we can transform the lives of many others and lead them into salvation........

.While reading Psalm 92 , I  came across the palm tree. It  said : The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree ( Psalm 92: 12). Our own palmyra and the Judean date palm both belong to the  family of Arecaceae in their classification. The more beautiful and ornamental Travellers palm, is not a true palm and belongs to a different family of plant kingdom. The Roman emperor , Vespian was so much impressed with the thick natural plantation of Judean date palms, that he introduced a coin with date palm on it. But my immediate reflection of our own palmyra or date palms was that they are not very impressive plants to look at. In fact the plant kingdom are more fascinating than the animals. Jesus says : “ Consider the lillies of the field, how they grow......even Solomon in  all his glory was not arrayed like one of these “ ( Mathew 6:28-29)....Palm tree is not impressive to look at ...stunted, ugly, fat looking and dark coloured trunk,  the drooping  phyllotaxy ( arrangement of leaves) making it  very unimpressive to look at. I was thinking in myself that while the palm tree like others worship God, it must have asked God , why He made it so unimpressive in a very attractive plant kingdom  and wept many times over it.....I am sure the palm plant should have prayed  for a more robust structure with an array of colours and an attractive fruit......

During November 2018, Nagapattinam coast was hit by Gaja cyclone. It caused  unprecedented calamity and loss to property and the plant and fauna in the region. There was heavy  damage to  crops . Life became a stand still as electricity lines were totally destroyed in the area. Huge damage to residences especially of the poor and downtrodden as the roofs were blown away. During that time one morning after our prayers, as I was reading "The Hindu"  (dated 24th November 2018),  I came across this article :  " Still Standing : How palmyra trees withstood the force of the cyclone " . This made me breathless and stunned as this article depicted the only plant to survive the strong winds of the cyclone was the palmyra tree. In fact the article started as "they stand tall amid destruction" ......... when actually  tall coconut trees,   all of them without exception, had been literally chopped down and remained  headless ghosts as if passed through a guillotine razor. The cyclone has literally finished off  most the plant and fauna except the Palm trees.

To be brief, I will narrate certain features of the palm as mentioned in the referred article and how it has been tailor made by our Lord Jesus to meet certain adversity : First the deep , fibrous, radial root system spread across large area,  holds the tree very strong. Palmyra has weightless crown , when compared to its peer like the coconut tree. The seemingly drooping leaves are not affected by winds because of their direction and arrangement. The outer stem of the trunk is walled with high fibro vascular bundles making it both hard and flexible, so it easily oscillates on stress with the great wind velocity.........It is said : As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones grow in the womb of her that is with child; even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. ( Ecclesiastes 11: 5).

Coming back to the story, I am sure, post cyclone, the palmyra tree  would have looked around and  even though, felt sorry for the other plants  humiliated by the cyclone,  it would have profusely thanked a thoughtful God for making it this way :  Looking ugly : No , as  the most beautiful plant in the plant kingdom. As we know,  all parts of a palm plant are economically useful. No part of the plant goes waste.

 Finally, I wish to quote again from the Holy Bible : " And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way, others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way"  ( Mathew 21:8). During the triumphant march of our Lord Jesus into Jerusalem as prophesized,  I am sure they would have spread palm leaves also on the way and not those beautiful lilies.....Today also we celebrate Palm sunday during the lenten season.

The famous preacher Bishop T D Jakes in one of his messages ( Tell the Devil I have changed my mind) says :  " Blessing is the uncanny, innate ability to sustain adversity". Now I am able to understand and appreciate better  the word “blessing” as appearing in Psalm 92:12, quoted  in the beginning of this message.: “ The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree”.

Prayer : Dear Lord, thank you for our lives and your continued blessings on us. We confess that we often see our outer man, the flesh and we live in flesh. We do not fully comprehend the dynamics of your creation including the best of it, us. Help us to crucify our flesh and look into You and discover Christ in us. Holy Spirit guide us and help us. Let the inner man reflect You and make us a  living blessing to all. Each passing day please make us holy in Your image.

Amen.