All you need is a light jacket

and psalm 92

I love spring. I just forget it exists sometimes. With Singapore sitting only ever so slightly north of the equator, one does not need a prophetic gift to know the weather forecast every day will inevitably be hot or hotter. But as I sit in my parent’s sunroom in Staten Island, I like the climatic reminder that seasons are indeed alive and well.

Yesterday was a crisp spring Sunday in Manhattan—our faces warmed in the sun, cooled in the shade, never breaking a sweat as we meandered the surrounding blocks after church (our haul included Winston Churchill's favorite champagne, free samples, and a board book for smol nephew from Strand). I couldn’t help myself as I internally quoted one of the great classics:

amen

---

a book

The last time I embarked an 18.5-hour flight, I read Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow in one sitting. It ended up being my favorite novel of 2023. I’m not sure when I arbitrarily imposed a decree to not read the same author within a year (unless it’s a series), so I (sadly) had not read another Zevin book until a few days ago when I boarded yet again another 18.5-hour long-haul flight. I loved this book: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (thank you, sophia, for putting it back on my radar <3) I was transfixed. It was nerdy, delightful, thoughtful, and had no unnecessary words. To copy-paste the last line of the back-cover pitch: an unforgettable tale of transformation and second chances, an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love. All my favorite things bundled in one. And my favorite line from the book:

We are not quite short stories. In the end, we are collected works.

Also, one of the characters has a one-eyed cat named Puddleglum (a nod to those Narnian adventures).

psalm 92

Lately, I’ve been meditating on Psalm 92 (the NLT version is lovely). Some observations:

• it’s the only psalm with the superscription: “a song for the Sabbath Day” (i shall spare you my jetlagged jumble of thoughts on shabbat for now, but this is a topic i’ve been falling in love with the last few years. the Creator himself resting out of sheer goodness and abundance?? and gifting it to us, the created??)

• the first few verses remind me of Charity Gayle’s dance party of a worship song, You Have Made Me Glad

• the metaphor of grass (for evildoers) and trees (for the righteous) gives hope that God is indeed just. Evil will one day wither. He will make right all that is wrong.

• verse 4 is the crux, i believe: our joy is found in what God has done.

On the drive to church yesterday, I was chattering to my parents about how happy I’d be to 1. be a little tree, and 2. who is planted and thriving in God’s sunny courtyard. I then added how I’d like verses 12-15 to be inscribed onto my tombstone. “They charge you for every letter engraved,” my mommy replied, without missing a beat 🤭 At the service (redeemer downtown), guess what the call to worship was? Psalm 92! And guess what the sermon (exodus 20:8-11) was on? Sabbath! Enjoy the CSB version:

¹ It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praise to your name, Most High,
² to declare your faithful love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night,
³ with a ten-stringed harp
and the music of a lyre.

⁴ For you have made me rejoice, Lord,
by what you have done;
I will shout for joy
because of the works of your hands.
⁵ How magnificent are your works, Lord,
how profound your thoughts!
⁶ A stupid person does not know,
a fool does not understand this:
⁷ though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be eternally destroyed.
⁸ But you, Lord, are exalted forever.
⁹ For indeed, Lord, your enemies—
indeed, your enemies will perish;
all evildoers will be scattered.
¹⁰ You have lifted up my horn
like that of a wild ox;
I have been anointed with the finest oil.
¹¹ My eyes look at my enemies;
when evildoers rise against me,
my ears hear them.

¹² The righteous thrive like a palm tree
and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon.
¹³ Planted [transplanted] in the house of the Lord,
they thrive in the courts of our God.
¹⁴ They will still bear fruit in old age,
healthy and green,
¹⁵ to declare, “The Lord is just; he is my rock,
and there is no unrighteousness in him.

---

Thank you for reading, friends! Tedders’ interpretation of verse 13 seems a bit too literal for me, but I respect the practical application:

i too wonder why my nephew has his own plant pot 🌱, but some things are too great to fathom

love,
reb