The desert waits,
Ready for those who come,
Who come obedient to the Spirit’s leading;
Or who are driven,
Because they will not come any other way.The desert waits,
Ready to let us know who we are—
The place of discovery.And we fear, and rightly
Ruth Burgess, Bread for Tomorrow
The loneliness and emptiness and harshness,
We forget the angels,
Whom we cannot see for our blindness,
But who come when God decides that we need their help;
When we are ready
For what they can give us.
The desert, the wilderness waits. In Lent we enter the wilderness to spend time alone with Jesus. We follow Him there – realizing that Jesus walks and talks with us there. We can trust Him today as we experience our Lent journey through the wilderness. The Savior leads us.
Guide me, O my great Redeemer,
William Williams, 1745
pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but you are mighty;
hold me with your powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
feed me now and evermore,
feed me now and evermore.
Our journey begins in quietness and stillness …
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
Lamentations 3:25-26
to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
There is seldom a period in which we do not know what to do, and we move through life in such a distracted way that we do not even take the time and rest to wonder if any of the things we think, say, or do are worth thinking, saying, or doing. We simply go along with the many “musts” and “oughts” that have been handed on to us, and we live with them as if they were authentic translations of the Gospel of our Lord. … We have to fashion our own desert where we can withdraw every day, shake off our compulsions and dwell in the gentle healing presence of the Lord.
Henri Nouwen, The Way of the Heart
For the man or woman who has come to know and love the Lord God in the depths of such intimacy, the times of solitude are the most precious in all of life. They are a rendezvous with the Beloved. They are anticipated with eagerness … gentle interludes with (God) alone are highlights of life.
Phillip Keller
As you walk in the wilderness today, what are you and Jesus talking about? What questions, concerns have you shared with Him? What is He saying to you?
