Desert Solitude

My dear friends.


Thank you for your patience. The number of things I cannot wait to write on (and yet, have been forced to wait to write on) will soon enough be flowing forth from my itching fingers. However, the last round of comprehensive exams is upon me, and so the month of March has been devoted to relearning all that I've learned. 


So for your great delight and pleasure, I am honored to share a reflection written by my boyfriend that I believe is very true to form with the nature of this blog and also a wonderful Lenten reflection. 





The soul that rejects God's love fissures like the veins of an arid desert.

It is in the solitude of the desert that man learns to survive on his own. Left only to his instincts, he learns to become self-sufficient in this harsh world. He becomes primal. He lives off of the land and develops mechanisms to adapt to the rugged terrain. He hardens his skin and his heart so as to protect himself. His world without God is treacherous and any vulnerability to love can be attacked by the beasts that prey about him. They search as a lion in the night for him. They know him better than he himself, and they exploit and rape his conscience. As a sculptor takes to the rock, they begin fashioning an image and likeness of themselves within the man. There's immense gratification in breaking the sanctification of man, and they feast on his soul as ravenous birds.

But with no warning, the storm clouds quicken and the sky becomes as black as sack cloth. Thunder rolls and the beasts flee from the promise of Rain. The man cannot prepare for the inevitable outpouring of Grace that is to come. Lightning rips through the sky and the downpour commences. As the desert terrain swells with living water, so too does the soul flood with the flowing mercies from God. It rushes in a torrent and carries the life of the man away in the darkness.

The life that once was lived is now lost.

Awakening he sees Light about him. The stark landscape has transformed into an alien planet of colors and beauty. Wandering from plant to tree, he breathes in the fruits of God's grace and weeps from joy.

As the desert is primal in nature, so too is the soul of the man. To survive is possible, but he surely cannot thrive in this desolate wasteland alone. Inspired by this, the man ventures forth into the desert in search of beauty, love, and grace. Living from storm to storm, he prays and hopes that he finds his paradise.

He knows now that there is something greater beneath the surface of all things and that all of creation yearns for living water.


May the Lord guide and protect us always. "May your kindness, LORD, be upon us; we have put our hope in you." (Psalm 33:22)