Monday's Musings

Green pastures and rain, or dry desert.



I live in the South. If you don't live here, I'll let you in our weather. It's what you might call humid. Not as much as South Florida, but it is definitely humid here. And as a result, well, we get lots of thunder storms in the summer and a fair amount of rain in the winter.





So what does our landscape look like? Lush and green. In the fall, colorful. We may have droughts every so often, but we like our rain. Humidity? Not so much, but it's part of our culture. Southern women don't sweat...we glisten. (But that's a whole nother story.)



 
I grew up here. I'm used to being in the South. So when I headed out West on a couple of trips, I got to see what the desert looked like for the first time. My reaction? Honestly? I thought everything looked brown and bland. But after spending a couple of weeks in different deserts, some things about life started to make more sense.

While the outer appearance of the desert looked duller to me at the onset, I came to discover that the desert has a very different beauty than that of the South. There may not be as much green, but there is a simplicity that is peaceful. And when mountains rise out of the desert, they are striking for sure.



Too, I found out that things don't decay as much when there's little humidity. This is a picture of  "The Oldest House". You can see the straw sticking out of the mud! Why is it still around? No moisture to speak of.

But just as I judged the desert by my first glance and thought it was dull, I learned to appreciate it for what it was. To see beauty in a way I hadn't before.

So let me ask you this...Do you feel like you're in a lush green state with God at the moment? Comfortable, used to your life and it's color. Or do you fell like you're in the desert? Dry, brown and thirsty. Well, being in the desert isn't always a bad thing. Yes, we may be thirsty, but learning to long for God in times of need is a good thing. Only his living water can truly satisfy us.


And sometimes we need the desert to  refocus our attentions back to what's eternally important. Then, when the dry season is over, and we get the life giving rains again, we can appreciate them more. And apparently, being in the desert also preserves things better. So don't waste your time in the desert. Build a monument to God, to remind you of how he provided. Then, when you leave the desert, you can look back to the what God did and remember how he got you through the difficulties of life.

And that's always a good place to be.

Mary