Of the Desert

In the cold dark dryness of an early desert morn

A purplish haze is slowly seeping up behind the eastern mountains

Announcing another dawn, giving a technicolor preview of the day

And as the shadows of night retreat from the peaks

Like a dark blanket pulled back slowly, seeping down the mountainside.

As the dim glow of morning reveals that through the night

I’m almost relieved and refreshed that

All is still whole, and all that was, is new again,

In God’s wondrous hand all is where it should be

And in the morning movement of shadows from the cactus and desert flora

Is found a freshness, even in the most parched of soil, a vitality, even in its dryness

From the most desolate of places, life rises and stretches its arms upward

Even flowering with beauty to celebrate its continued and renewed life

No ocean waves break on this desolate shoreline, soothing with their rhythm and sound

But still the soft hush of mountain breeze, ebbing down the slopes from the cold

Lifts my ears to hear His whisper, His Spirit, the sound of His flowing grace

Encompassing all in its path with a comforting morning embrace

Preparing all for the coming of a new day

Consider now His Cross, high on that rocky desert outcropping

So near the normality of the city, yet so eternally distant from banality

Planted also in the desert dryness, holding its arms out, reaching for life

Holding the most precious desert flower of all, the Creator Himself

Who through His sacrifice, the giving up of earthly life itself

In a time of darkness and desolated hearts

Brings new life and light back to the world

Lifting up all of us who live, who ever lived and will ever live here

Into a new morning, a new sunrise of holy light

Flooding the world with mercy, forgiveness, and grace

That we too, in this desert time and place which draws life from us

May be saved and have eternal life with Him

AC022708