In an evergreen world it’s easy to forget the desert,
That place where Jesus walked to by himself,
Choosing to begin everything with silence and hunger,
Leaving behind the rush and bustle of the market,
The heated theology of his day with endless discussions,
Even his friends with their earnest hopeful questions,
Needed to know that first comes the desert,
A place where loneliness is the companion who speaks loudest,
And, temptation is a constant distraction that desires
to drown out what is most needed to be heard.
In the desert the silence can be deafening,
Leaving behind the noise of the ever present demands
of the needs of everyday life.
Learning about the attraction of the tempter’s voice seeking to he heard,
Choosing to remember the words of the God who is present right now,
The voice of silence brings clarity to the confusion of constant babble,
Where God’s will is distorted by a multitude of selfish interests,
It takes time in the desert to leave those voices behind,
To be able to say, “it’s no longer my will that comes first”.
In the desert hunger is a reminder that prayer is spiritual food,
When even the stones look like they could satisfy my desire,
Listening is the nourishment that every soul craves for,
Finding myself emptied of everything to allow the discovery of Grace,
My humanity is brought fully alive through God’s voice speaking to me,
Instead of squandering my words to every fleeting thought,
Hunger focuses everything on the source of my heart’s demands,
Choosing to be reminded of the most important conversation,
That discovers the words that are intended for only me,
A conversation that is formed by listening to my body’s pangs,
That speaks the language of thankfulness for what my hunger says,
And, discovering the way the desert speaks to me.