Time in the Wilderness

The Sinai Desert: “Time in the Wilderness”

Having grown up in the lush and verdant southeast, I really have no understanding or experience of the desert. Of course, I have the general idea that the desert is hot, dry and has lots of sand. While driving through the desert of Sinai, however, I began to gain a new appreciation of the complexities and stark beauty of the place.

I was speaking with someone in our group about “time in the desert” and what we believe that to be. When we hear or use that expression, we tend to think about dark and even depressing times. As we drove through the desert, the first hour of so, I certainly felt like this was a stark and lifeless place.

Yet as I looked out the window and paid attention to the landscape and terrain, I realized it wasn’t just the same bleak and forsaken landscape. There was variation. The hills and mountains changed as we got deeper into the desert. The soft sandy dunes gave way to sharp, jagged and high mountains. The colors of the mountains were even different indicating the changing mineral composition of the peaks. Though there certainly wasn’t a great deal of vegetation, there was some. In the midst of the rock and sand there would be the occasional bush, shrub or grass. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, there would appear a lush green area and I would know we had come to an oasis.

When I took the time to pay attention to the desert and our “time in the desert” I realized that, though it was certainly different than life, as I know it, there was certainly life in that harsh environment. The desert was, I think, trying to show me that if I keep my eyes and heart open, there is much to learn even in stark and dry places.

Blessings,

Robert