A DESERT JOURNEY

I long for a solitary and separate place

A place where I can listen and need no voice

A place of hope where I can really hear

A place of peace away from fear

And so I head into this unknown place

Leaving my safety and selfness behind

Unburdened of my perceptions and ideals

I look out over the barrenness to traverse

Stepping onto the dry, hot landscape of my fears

I walk toward unknown solace, away from all surety

Toward the dry void of all earthly dreams

Wandering toward the vision of a hopeful horizon

Trying fruitlessly to focus on my horizon

I must eventually wander at His will

And let go of self-direction, giving in to His alone

Heading toward where He places my feet

Toward the solitude of my naked soul

Looking back at my sunken footprints, they fade

Getting shallower as I wander deeply forth

For the past is erased in one breath of His

And in the heat of solitude I undress my vanity

Opening up to the searing stare of honesty

Plodding forward toward that place He intends

I thirst for comfort, for direction, for peace

And feel empty in every way as I dream

Emptying, purging all that is not of Him

Now emptied and alone I open my dusty jar

Asking Him alone to fill it with love and peace

To sustain me the while in this desert place

For I am devoid now of supposition and self

And in His care alone I survive here

For days seemingly forever I wait, listening

In the nothingness and searing sun of desolation

I stretch to hear a voice as I cry out in change

His voice to save me from the desert times

Until finally I have reached down deeply

And found that truth within, given first

By Him to Whom I long to return

A truth of life’s change found, not spurned

A while spent in this desert place away

In time and in space of night and day

Has brought me here to He who saves

To Him within in birth of new days

This emptiness of my soul He has filled

With the flowing water of His grace

That I may begin to walk again, and

Back to bring refreshment to my life’s place

Lord I pray that You guide me there

To find this desert place I seek

To leave behind the things I do

And in this way come closer to You

Take me to this longed for desert place

A journeyed place to finally reach

A safer place where I can pray

And in the silence closer, there come to stay

Take me to this longed for desert place

That I may clearly again now see

Away from the bustle of earthly pace

Where I encounter to Your Holy Face

Take me to this longed for desert place

That I may look deeply into my soul

And give all I hold dear to You

That I may truly change in what I do

May I journey back

From the desert of my desolation

Emptied of all that I held as mine

And refilled with all that is from You

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