Every step I take

I'm hoping to walk away from this desert

with the strength to not fall apart

and not to look back.

But I'm afraid that with every step I take,

it takes me further away from my heart

and soul...

Something throbs, and gleams...

"I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams..."

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The Little Prince

Pay attention

"What did you say, Gram? About there being no church out here?" 

"I said that the sky was the roof of my cathedral and the desert was its floor and any time I paid attention, I could feel a Higher Power all around me."

- Terry Farley

Blue Wings

The surrounding hullabaloo

"I felt very still and empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo."

- Sylvia Plath

The Bell Jar

In the end

"The pupil dilates in darkness and in the end finds light, just as the soul dilates in misfortune and in the end finds God."

- Victor Hugo

Les Miserables

Let's be romantic

"Let's be romantic and dance in the rain.  I'll prove my feelings for you by bringing an umbrella, because I'm drowning in my love for you."

- Jarod Kintz

This Book is Not FOR SALE

Bewildered

"When you're lost in those woods, it sometimes takes you a while to realize that you are lost.  For the longest time, you can convince yourself that you've just wandered off the path, that you'll find your way back to the trailhead any moment now.  Then night falls again and again, and you still have no idea where you are, and it's time to admit that you have bewildered yourself so far off the path that you don't even know from which direction the sun rises anymore."

- Elizabeth Gilbert

Loneliness

"Sometimes loneliness makes the loudest noise."

- Aaron Ben-e'ev

Weary eyes

In October 2015, we took a camping trip to Spitzkoppe, one of the most picturesque and beautiful places in Namibia.  We spent an unforgettable evening under the stars.  On our way back, I couldn't help noticing how thin the cattle alongside the road were.  

In this past week, about 20mm of rain fell in the region, turning the arid landscape into a lush landscape with waterfalls and rock pools.  How I wish I could be there to see it!  I hope to see these ladies nourished and healthy and not looking so desperately thin.  In this photo, even their eyes seamed weary and tired.  What a difference the rain makes, and what a true blessing it is for all nature and creatures.  

I haven't had enough desert yet

"Shall I run back into the desert... and stay there until the devil has passed out of me and I am fit to meet humankind again without driving it to despair at the first look?  I haven't had enough desert yet."

- Saul Bellow

Henderson the Rain King

Freedom

"In the desert I had found a freedom unattainable in civilization;

a life unhampered by possessions,

since everything that was not a necessity was an encumbrance.

I had found too, a comradeship inherent in the circumstances,

and the belief that tranquility was to be found there."

-Wilfred Thesiger

Holding on

"And life is what we make of it.

Always has been, always will be."

- Grandma Moses

It's incredibly easy to become despondent when things do not go our way or work out as we planned. It's easy to give in to our own negative thoughts and to affirm that, yes, there is very little good left in this world.  It's hard to hold onto hope when we see and hear so little of what's good in this world.  

But this is the essence of character building.  It's an uncomfortable process, but hopefully, in me, as I go through this unsettling process, it will draw in me courage, hope and perspective.  In this world, we will perhaps never have it easy, but comfort comes from knowing that the One I serve have overcome this world and by His grace, I will too... 

World at your feet

Once, this was a scene in turmoil, a world turned upside down...  A great flood passed through here, the evidence is still there.  How beautifully preserved, right?