Looking for (and Finding) Streams in Your Desert

Water is a commodity here in the Southwestern desert. We highly prize it and nearly collapse into giddy convulsions when the heavens unleash it onto the desert floor during our summer monsoon. So whenever you happen upon it here, it’s like finding a pearl of great price. You lap it up emotionally and spiritually, and always physically, since dehydration looms as a potential health hazard for desert-dwellers.

And doesn’t that sound like an analogy of life?

Have you ever been in a desert time of your life?

We all traverse times of plodding through what feels like an emotional and spiritual desert. We live in “a funk” as a friend of mine calls it. Many of us experience deserts containing some scraps of life, while others can’t seem to locate a shred of nourishment anywhere. We stumble through life, pursuing mirages and coming up dry. We’re in a hurry to get through it—believing it has nothing valuable to teach us—and look in all the wrong places for life nourishing water.

Or we wait and wait and wait for the water to come to us.

Knowing God’s promises about the desert

Sometimes what we need to do is trust, listen, and look for it, recalling what God proclaimed to the prophet Isaiah:

“Listen carefully, I am about to do a new thing. Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even put a road in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19, Amplified Bible).

First, God calls us to listen.
Then he tells us he’s about to do a new thing and describes what it will be.
He cautions us to be aware of it, looking for it.
He tells us he’ll provide a road in the wilderness;
and make rivers to flow in the desert.

I thought a lot about that passage, the pricelessness and spirit-infusing joy of finding water in the desert this last weekend after hiking in Sabino Canyon, a recreational area near our home described as “a desert oasis.”

The engineer and I could have parked ourselves at the bottom of the canyon and waited for the water to flow to us. But that would have been an exercise in futility because rain is rare here this time of year, and that day the early rising sun quickly burned away the threadbare cloud blanket and heated up the canyon walls.

Instead, the engineer and I went in search of the water. Rather than attempt to carve out our own road, we took the path provided. We actually pulled out a map to follow. We hiked and ascended and eventually arrived at the prize—melted mountain snow water cascading down chiseled and glossed granite cliffs into clear pools. Pools large enough to toss your body into and paddle around in. Seven waterfalls and trickles stacked at the end of a boxed desert canyon. A source of life and refreshment to wildlife, plants, and people.

After claiming a spot at the edge of one of the pools, a pool that had already been claimed by a pair of male Mallard ducks—who thought they’d scored big when we fished around in our fanny packs and extracted two energy bars for a snack they hoped we’d share with them—I unlaced and dragged off my Keen hiking boots and wooly socks and slid my swollen feet and throbbing left toe into the crystal clear, COLD water.

My feet were grateful for that water, my eyes and brain were grateful for that water, and my soul screamed internal heaven-sent hallelujahs for it. I could have sat there for hours, intermittently soaking my feet, watching the ducks beg, paddle around lazily and leave rippling wakes behind them. I could have watched the cloud wisps putter across the powder blue sky; the rock faces change shape in the pool reflections; the saguaro cactus cast short, shorter and then lengthening shadows across the cliffs they miraculously find enough nourishment to grow in; the candy apple red cardinals fly up-down zigzag patterns from one shade-providing mesquite tree to another.

Can you avoid a desert time?

But the frustrating reality was that I couldn’t stay up there indefinitely in that seven-pool nirvana. I had to walk back down the canyon away from it. And that’s the way life functions for most of us too.

We can’t avoid it. For whatever reason, life or God himself orchestrates a desert time in our lives. Moses fled to the desert after he murdered a man and hid there for forty years before God called him back to Egypt to free his people. Bible teacher Dr. J. Vernon, McGee quips that Moses was getting his Backside-of-the-Desert degree. While that always gets a chuckle, there’s a heap of truth to it.

Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days. We don’t know what he experienced every day on his journey, but we do know Satan harassed and tempted him when he seemed to be at his weakest.

Without trying to sound crass, I’d say the experiences toughened both of them up for what lie ahead.

Elijah the prophet orchestrated his own trip to the desert when—terrified—he ran for his life from the evil Queen Jezebel and ended up being ministered to by God. Elijah managed to find a hideout near a flowing stream, his personal stream in his desert. Through that experience, I’m guessing he learned a lot more about God’s mercy and compassion.

Jesus, Moses and Elijah all learned a lot during their desert time—about God and about themselves. We learn about them and God through our reading of these events.

You can learn a lot during your desert time, even while searching and waiting for the water God promises to give you.

How are you handling your desert time?

Usually we need to lean into our desert time, without trying to fight it or run from it. But then we need to make sure that we don’t get mired in it. Stuck in our parched wilderness.

Some questions I invite you to ask yourself to make your, or someone else’s desert time productive. The counsel of a friend (you) could be just what they need right now, a life-replenishing river in their desert.

Are you experiencing a desert time right now in your life, and how are you handling it? Could you be encouraging and supporting someone you know who is experiencing one?

Are you trusting wholeheartedly in God’s promise to provide you a “road” out, a river of spiritual life at the end of your desert journey?

Are you asking God what he’s trying to teach you during this desert time, so you don’t have to stay there any longer than necessary?

Are you asking him to reveal the road out?

And are you actively searching for the life-giving water?

Care to Share?

I’d love to hear how you handle your desert times. If you’d like to share, just head over to the Blog page to leave a comment you can share with others. W want to help each other successfully traverse our desert times.

I pray you spend your time rejoicing in God’s promise of providing a road out, a road leading to a temporal and spiritual stream in your desert, and the heaven-bound road you’ll traverse when your time on Earth is done!

Until Monday!

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

Photo 2018 © Andrea A Owan

Welcome to Free-for-All Fridays!

Becoming What You Read, Watch and Hear—It’s All About Worldview

What will you be reading, watching and listening to this weekend? What magazines do you subscribe to? What Book of the Month Club or Goodreads selections do you make? What television shows, or movies, are on your must-watch list?

Does it matter?

I proclaim a resounding “Yes!” It does matter. Very much.

What you read, watch and listen to are just as vital as the spiritual and physical components of a well-balanced life. Why? There are several reasons.

The brain functions like a big camera with permanent film and cataloging capacity. The images you show it are imprinted on the brain. And those images can produce chemicals that cause mood changes, stimulation, and brain chemical alterations. That’s one reason pornography is so insidious and addictive. The images get imprinted and can flashback at any time. And, if responded to, can cause the need for more and more stimulation. Like a drug.

Along the same lines, the brain also functions like a big memory bank for words and music. Music is a powerful one that can alter brain chemistry at the moment of listening. That memory is stored. When the music is heard again, sometime later, those chemicals are dumped into the system again, and the reaction is repeated. That’s one of the reasons music can trigger so many past memories and emotional reactions (like melancholy). Scientists know that repeated, methodical drumming and pounding can change the brain, for the worse. That kind of music really is brain-deadening.

Reading triggers complex thoughts and brain chemical reactions too. What woman hasn’t read a revealing romance novel without having some kind of physical and emotional response during the sex scenes? One thing leads to another, and soon she’s lamenting how her husband isn’t as manly or romantic as the character. Then resentment might creep in, resentment severe enough to affect how she treats her spouse.

In many ways, because women are so word and speech-oriented, I don’t think romance novels or graphic erotica novels are much different for women than pornography is for men, who are visually oriented. Women can replay that detailed, written sex scene in their minds and get the same chemical response as when they first read it.

Taking stock of spent time and how you’re feeding yourself—

Don’t think twice about spending $10 of your hard-earned money to watch an hour and a half of a lame movie, or one rife with sex scenes that would have garnered an X rating thirty years ago? If so, have you ever considered that you’re really just paying someone (the theater, and production company) to be a legal voyeur? A Peeping Tom? If you sneaked a look into someone’s bedroom while they were enjoying intimate relations, you’d be arrested. Why do we think it’s okay, and gratifying, to pay to do it? And sit there with a bunch of strangers watching at the same time?

How many hours do you waste reading magazines about famous people? What they’re doing, how they’re living and treating themselves and one another? Why do we care so much, anyway? Are we that bored with our own lives? Are we trying to live vicariously through them, keep up with them, be like them?

Really why it all matters—

The core reason all this matters is because everything you read, watch or listen to shapes your worldview. And your worldview specifically affects how you live your life—the decisions you make, the way you interpret life and world events. (If you’re unfamiliar with what worldview is, you’ll want to keep reading my blog because we’ll be getting into that specifically in a Meditation Mondays post this month.)

There’s a reason the Apostle Paul wrote:

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:8-9, NKJV).

I LOVE how Eugene Peterson puts this in The Message.

“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work into his most excellent harmonies.”

Sadly, I think one of our greatest problems is that we’ve compromised so much with our lives, given others way too much of our precious, priceless time. We have become so willing to allow ourselves to be fed ugly, worst, un-praiseworthy things that we’ve become immune to the ugly and forgotten what the beautiful is.

Weekend Challenge

Make a deliberate, conscious decision to be really selective about what you read, watch and listen to this weekend. Try turning off the political radio talk shows and turn on some good music.
Better yet, shut off your phone, television and radio and go outside to listen to and watch nature. It’s amazingly entertaining and invigorating. Good for brain, emotional, physical and spiritual health.
Close the magazines and do the above. Don’t even ruffle through the ones at the store checkout lane.
Start counting the hours you read this kind of stuff, in print or on line. You may be surprised at how much of your precious time it steals.

A final word

Before I sign off, I’d like to leave you with a quote from the author Annie Dillard, found in her book The Writing Life.

“The writer…is careful of what he reads, for that is what he will write. He is careful of what he learns, because that is what he will know” (page 68).

Isn’t that true for all of us, no matter what our profession or status. We will know what we have learned, and we will write what we’ve read about.

Choose the best, and watch your life change for the better!

Have a great, inspiring weekend!

Leave a comment on the blog page and let me know how you spent it.

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

Photo © Andrea A Owan

Welcome to Meditation Mondays! Prepping for Spiritual Success

Welcome to Andrea’s Meditation Monday blog posts! I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to have you join me for this journey.

Every Monday we’ll explore the deep questions of life and spirituality. Not religion, per se, although I may do some history and basic theology overviews so you can see how similar many of the religions are, and how different.

But let’s get our feet wet today in preparation of stepping into the river of life next Monday!

Devotions or Digging Deeper?

You may have a daily devotion book you use. That’s wonderful if you do. It’s a way for you to learn how others are doing on their journey with God, how their experiences relate to yours, and how their experiences speak to your heart. You will likely find peace and encouragement through your daily devotions. So I want to assure you that we’re not going to set aside the devotion, if you like to use one.

What I’m inviting you to do, though, is to simplify. And go deeper.

What do I meant by that?

Maybe you—like I—sometimes find daily devotions a bit tedious, or that they sometimes only skim the surface. That’s often because a devotion piece is supposed to be short and concise, without time to dive into the deep end of the passage or focus. They just give you a sample or hors d-oeuvres-sized taste. And maybe you feel as though you’ve become a slave to “doing them,” or “getting them done.” I hear people ask, “Did you do your devotion today?” as though it was a chore, and they’re you’re devotion police.

Or maybe you miss one or two, berate yourself for that neglect, and then feel as though you’ve failed at your personal spiritual-self-improvement-program. You might promise yourself you’ll go back to those missed devotions, and dutifully mark the pages to read them. But soon your go-back-to devotions pile up. If you’re the super achiever type, or coerced by guilt, you do read them—all in one sitting—and, while you’re relieved you could now get your gold star (from God, or the devotion police—which may be you) for accomplishing that feat, you don’t get any spiritually productive (soul changing) kernels out of that marathon read-fest.

Or maybe you’re like me. I sometimes like to sit down every day to a familiar devotion book. But more often, I go in waves. Sometimes the devotion tide and interest is out; and sometimes it’s in and high. But most of the time I’d rather have an idea or thought a week to really chew on.

That’s what I mean by simplicity.

And then you can take that thought or idea to a deeper level, with more introspective, exhaustive questions.

That’s what we’ll do together on Meditation Mondays. Really dig up and till the soils of our hearts and souls. Get out some soul fertilizer and enrich the spiritual soil.

4 Steps to Prepare for Success

But first we need to prepare. Because anything worth doing well requires good preparation!

For next Monday there are some things you’ll want to do to give your meditation the best chance of success.

First, locate your Bible. Any version will do. Use whatever you’re comfortable with. If you’re using an online Bible, make sure you can bookmark the pages or highlight passages.

Second, get a journal you can use a pen or pencil to write in. While you may not be the journaling type, I can’t encourage you enough to give this journaling thing a shot. The actual process of writing (not typing) helps you slow down, focus and remember your thoughts and impressions. Even doodling or drawing pictures will engage the brain, rev it up, promote thought and creativity, and trigger the development of new neuron connections. Your brain’s superhighway will enlarge!

And it doesn’t have to be a fancy journal. One of those lined paper, spiral type notebooks you bought for a high school or college class will do.

Then, decide on a day and time you can commit to reading the post and writing in your journal. Pick a time that’s best for you, one you’re most likely to stay with. I recommend at least reading the post on Monday or Tuesday so you have all week to think about and meditate on it. But you may select an entirely different day to make journal notes. If you’re in your home or a building, make yourself a “Do Not Disturb” or “Occupied” sign to hang on the door of the room you’ll be sitting in. Be intentional. (I recommend a quiet place inside, or outside, for this. Not some hip coffee cafe where people and activities (and loud, fingers-raking-a-blackboard espresso machine noise) can overwhelm the brain and senses.

Finally, I invite you to find the following verse in your Bible, read it, commit it to memory, and use it to pray for yourself frequently throughout the week. Call to the Creator of the universe, to do what He promises to do. Doing that will prepare your heart and mind for whatever it is God wants to teach you. He has a word to speak specifically to you, a truth He wants to reveal. For your benefit and His glory!

“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and might things, which you do not know” Jeremiah 33:3. (NKJV)

If you like The Message, Eugene Peterson’s rendering of this verse is great!

“Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.”

I cannot begin to tell you what truths were revealed to me once I started using this verse as a focus. God is faithful, and He will faithfully answer your prayer for revelation if you call to him with all your heart.

Expect great things from our gracious and generous God!

Looking forward to seeing you back next Monday, when we’ll start exploring several of the most important questions in life!

AND I hope you’ll also join me this Wednesday, for our first Workout Wednesdays!

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

Photo Courtesy of Christopher P Owan