Tonight, with the help of a preschool coloring book Haggadah and paper bag puppets representing plagues from frogs to darkness, I recounted the Passover story with a table full of relatives. The paper bags made it pretty amusing, but as I realized my vehement reaction to having the "lice" plague puppet anywhere near my end of the table, I started to think about all the plagues, and the "plagues" with which we deal each day.
Each day, there are plenty of things to complain about, from the cold that has gone through our household and landed squarely on us, to work situations we struggle to manage, to difficulties with our kids that we attempt to handle. It can be overwhelming. Tonight, however, frog puppet in hand, I tried to imagine adding an invasion of frogs or locusts to our daily difficulties. I tried to imagine three days of darkness, or diseases or deaths completely surrounding us. We can choose to view the "Ten Plagues" portion of the Haggadah literally or not, but either way, recounting the plagues gives us a little perspective on the common cold and the late paycheck. It's not that they don't matter. It's just that they start to seem a whole lot more manageable.
I have experienced Passover seders for years--long ones and short ones, ones geared toward kids and ones geared specifically toward women. But somehow, tonight's, puppets and all, made a particular impression. While some of the things in our lives may "plague" us, I figure we're a lot better off than we may have thought.
No comments:
Post a Comment