For years our newsletters have borne the title, "News from the Arizona Desert." I’m sure that speaking of the desert brings up images such as barren, dry, lifeless, brown, snakes, scorpions, tarantulas, and other such unlovely thoughts. One dictionary defines a desert as "a barren or desolate area, especially a dry, often sandy region of little rainfall, extreme temperatures, and sparse vegetation.”
Most of the year, we live in just such a place. Although we live in the High Desert at 4,000 feet elevation in a valley surrounded by mountains, this definition pretty much describes our surroundings. We see sparse vegetation, all of which has thorns or spikes on it. The soil is not sandy but is full of rocks. It is so hard that it takes all day running a tiller to turn the soil enough to try to plant a little garden. On our walks in the desert, we see snakes, tarantulas, jack rabbits, and other sundry insects that spend their days under ground and come out in the cool of the morning or evening. There is a 30-50 degree difference between daytime and night time temperatures.
All that changes once a year during monsoon season, which runs through July and August. The rain comes down in torrents, many of the dips in the roads become flooded and completely impassable, and the plants actually start to turn green. For a couple of months, the desert blooms bringing forth life that has been dormant for the past 10 months. It doesn’t come close to what many of you experience most of the year in your wetter climates, but to us the desert teeming with life is a wonderful change.
What makes the difference between barrenness and life, and transforms a seemingly lifeless waste into something beautiful? It is the presence of water! And what makes the difference in our lives between barrenness and fruitfulness? It is the time we spend with our Lord who says in John 7:38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” Just as nothing in the physical world can live and grow without water, neither can life flourish in the spiritual realm without the living water that only Christ can give. According to Psalms 1: 3, he who delights in the Lord and meditates on his Word “… will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season. And its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.”
Leave a Reply