I just got back from the desert. Well at least the East Valley of Phoenix where I spent a long weekend connecting with friends and intentionally making space for me to pursue God. Unless you live in the desert you really don’t understand the heat, the dryness, the unrelenting power of the sun. Without protection or relief the desert is a miserable and potentially lethal place to hang out. Until you have lived in the desert you probably can’t appreciate its power and its desolation. Unfortunately many of us live in our own deserts. Many of us live in the deserts of loneliness, purposelessness, hurt, depression, hopelessness. We find ourselves in a life where relief and protection are difficult to find. Each day seems like a long journey of surviving the scorching sun and dehydration of people and we live to survive to get to the dark and aloneness of evening. We devolve into having the goal of existing and occasionally have a fleeting hope of purpose. Many of us will agonizingly watch dreams, purpose, passion wither to death in the isolation of our deserts.
Some of us will have the courage and support to come back from the desert. Some of us will humble ourselves to realize that very few of us will have people that rescue us out of our own deserts and that we are somewhat responsible to begin the journey back ourselves. We must admit that we are in a desert – admit that we are not ok, that we are losing our passion, our dreams, and we don’t know what to do about it. We must quit blaming others, situations, crisis for the reason why we are still in the desert. We must mourn the loss that we experienced in the desert, the dreams that were not met, the purpose that seems out of reach, the comfortability of life that we desired is not entitled to us. We must make a plan to get out of the desert and to realize that we probably can not do it alone. We must ask for help, humble ourselves to admit we are messed up from the inside out, and that we don’t want to stay this way.
The journey out of the desert might be long and painful and we may need to relearn how to be healthy, how to be encouraging, how to dream, how to live with confidence that the God who made heaven and earth has designed us for a reason, but most importantly to just be His. As you come out of the desert drink the refreshing waters of purpose, passion, hope slowly. Let your body and soul adjust to ingesting life giving, soul fueling nutrients. Believe that the goodness of what you have tasted will not go away and there is more available each and every day.
I am on my way out of the desert. I am adjusting to the rhythms of grace, of life, of passion, of purpose. I’m learning to crave the good life of walking with God, not walking for God. I’m beginning to hope that my best days are ahead. I’m praying for people who are in the desert to not give up, to not quit, to not settle. I’m praying for the people who are coming out of the desert to drink fully and completely the life giving water from God.
Hope to see you out of the desert.