Desert Meet-Ups
The older we get the more we experience (and witness in others) days that are just flat hard. Reversals come at us in various forms from disease and death, disappointments and betrayals, dreams lost and finances upended. Life can feel like a stretch of arid wilderness where little grows on its own. Even when we strive to do our best and be our best selves trouble too often seems to show up.
At the same time, it is in those dry lands where we are given the opportunity to grow the most. It doesn't seem to make sense that the hardest of days carry the potential for the best growth in a person, but they do.
In the wild our attention is undivided
In desert lands we desperately seek
In lonely places we understand our need for community
Looking back on desert trek times, I have heard friend after friend, and probably you if we visited, repeat some version of, "I never want to go through that again, but I wouldn't trade it for anything because of what I learned and how I grew." God uses the toughest of times to form in us his image and his character. I've walked my way through a few miles with cancer and hope never to face it again, but truth be told, each was a rich time with God and produced seasons of growth that may not have come apart from the challenge.
God is a master of using the hardest of times in the best of ways:
Think of when Moses caught his vision of God and mission while alone in the desert and before a burning bush
Or the Exodus crowd who found the water and bread they needed, not in Egypt, but in the outback of the Sinai
Even Jesus, after his baptism, spent 40 days in the desert to face down the devil and inaugurate his ministry
Also, Paul had some physical ailment that would not be healed and discovered that God was more than enough for him
...and he has done and continues to do the same good work in you in the midst of your own desert journeys
Sure, we would be masochists if we looked for ways to be tried and tested, but when these times knock on the door we can face them with attitudes far different from dread when we are confident that God will use every bit of this yet-to-be-redeemed world for good in us. That is what James was getting at as he opened his letter to believers who faced their own desert situations.
Consider it pure joy, my brethren, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Some of you, as you read this note of the week, are deep in the wild country, thirsty and hungry and feeling lost. Begin again remembering that Jesus gives living water, and he is the bread of life, and as the good shepherd he knows your name and just where you are. Immanuel, God with us. He understands your suffering because he has suffered. He knows what your loneliness feels like since his friends abandoned him. He stands as a savior, a brother, a guide, and still the Lord of all. Take heart today, or save this for a time when hot winds blow hard, that Jesus has not and never will forsake you. Persevere.
Two weeks ago I wrote that Jesus wants us to be with him; that's intimacy and security. Last week was a reminder that we walk the Jesus way; that's direction and action. Both of those ideas are as true in desert times as in the good times. Stay with Jesus and import his heart more and more into your world. Walk the Jesus way, especially when the way is hard. The truth is that we meet God in the desert, just like folks of faith have always done. Now, it is our turn.
Get ready for your next desert meet-up!
Someone I loved once gave me
a box full of darkness.It took me years to understand
that this, too, was a gift.-Mary Oliver
Music for the week: It’s the ‘70s!!
A very very young Neil Diamond
I had a high school crush on Pam Mark Hall
And 35 minutes of '70s Maranatha Worship songs to take you back
And sometimes we just don't get the words just right...
~ When my twin daughters were young, I taught them to say the Lord's Prayer before going to bed. As I listened outside their door, I could hear them say, "Give us this steak and daily bread, and forgive us our mattresses."
~ My son, who is in nursery school, said, "Our Father, who art in Heaven, how didja know my name?"
~ I remember thinking it said "Give us this day our jelly bread."
~ I recall reading something years ago about the Pledge of Allegiance. Some child thought it began, "I led the pigeons to the flag."
~ When I was little, I often wondered who Richard Stands was. You know: "I pledge allegiance to the flag. And to the republic for Richard Stands."
~ When my husband was 6 years old, he thought a certain Prayer was "He suffered under a bunch of violets." The real words were "under Pontius Pilate," but at that age, he didn't know better. To this day, we still snicker in church whenever that prayer is read.
~ My mother spent her early childhood saying, "Hail Mary, full of grapes."
~ When my older brother was very young, he always walked up to the church altar with my mother when she took communion. On one occasion, he tugged at her arm and asked, "What does the priest say when he gives you the bread?" Mom whispered something in his ear. Imagine his shock many years later when he learned that the priest doesn't say, "Be quiet until you get to your seat."
~ When I was younger, I believed the line was "Lead a snot into temptation." I thought I was praying for my little sister to get into trouble.