The Way Out Of The Wilderness

“Late in August the lure of the mountains becomes irresistible. Seared by the everlasting sunfire, I want to see running water again, embrace a pine tree, cut my initials in the bark of an aspen, get bit by a mosquito, see a mountain bluebird, find a big blue columbine, get lost in the firs, hike above timberline, sunbathe on snow and eat some ice, climb the rocks and stand in the wind at the top of the world on the peak of Tukuhnikivats.” 

― Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

 Wilderness cuts both ways; testing and blessing. Daytime temperatures peak at 120, the nights cool to the mid-nineties. Hot and barren the days, day after day. No cool wind (any wind seems a cool wind at 120 ); few thundershowers.  I hunger for that cold breeze, for the sight of water falling over rock or waves crashing against rock and sand.

Dry, hot, intense and waiting for change.  This has been a long summer season, “Deep water faith in the shallow end.”  But life happens on different levels.  Like this desert.  Springs form from faults; aquifers run deep underground.  There is life giving water. 

There are tantamount blessings on my plate; food, happy marriage, darling daughter, two great vacations this year including Spring in Yosemite.   Work and ministry are dry areas.  No driving vision; nothing pulling me hard forward.  ‘Seared by sunfire’ I don’t look for shade.  I search for fullness.

Tourists in Palm Springs can take a tram up past timberline.  Most mountains require sweat before they reward you with beauty.  The desert will bake you if you bask too long.  Movement is the key forward.  The mountains lure is that they are reachable.  God is a rewarder of those that seek Him. Walking forward is the way out of the wilderness.  “He changes a wilderness into a pool of water and a dry land into springs of water.”