May 11, 2020

On Sunday I tried to make a connection between Jesus as the way from John 14:6 (I am the way, the truth and the life) with God’s guidance of his people in the exodus. Earlier in the week a friend sent this piece from a devotional she encountered on Ash Wednesday. May you know God’s guidance in this pandemic wilderness from Jesus as the way.

The Wilderness is the Birthplace of Joy by Sarah Are

I used to know the wilderness only as pain; A land without food, a land without water

But you rained down manna and even water flows in your desert

I used to think the wilderness was total isolation but the Israelites had each other

and you had the stars in the sky

So then I thought the wilderness must be time wasted; Forty years of circles; Forty years of wondering

But then I realized each step is a step and maybe there is growth in that

So then I concluded that the wilderness must be lonely spaces

The woman and her well; The blind man and his gate; Martha and her kitchen; Peter and his fire

But then you showed up in each of those places, to each of those faces

So now I wonder …

what if the wilderness is the birthplace of creation

What if the wilderness is where call begins

What if the wilderness is where joy is birthed

What if between the dirt and the sky and that wide orange horizon

the wilderness is where we find you