Desert Prayers

Okay...so my yard doesn't look this bad...yet.

But it has been a dry, hot, desert-like summer in Southern Wisconsin. I have not had to mow for weeks. The only green patches in my yard are weeds. And suddenly a 90 degree day feels cool and refreshing.

And as I was walking across my parched and crunchy grass the other day, I thought about times in my life when it feels like my soul is parched and dry and in need of a good drenching dose of something.

In those arid moments some talk about how God seems distant. For me, that is not quite what I feel like. I feel spent and tired even though I sense God is near. I just feel thirsty even though I am gulping from the well of prayer. I look around at the beauty of creation or hear someone offer me a trace of God's grace and it just doesn't seem to sustain me the way it does in other seasons.

It sort of feels like a few days ago when it did finally rain for about 1/2 hour...but it was just not enough. What happens when in the midst of prayer and praying it does not feel like enough? What happens when all the good advice about how prayer can change things and how it will help your health and yet you still feel like you are wandering around the desert?  Sort of like the People of God in Exodus.

For 40 years they wandered and wandered and wandered around an arid area. In some ways that gives voice to the desert moments in our life. Those extended Exodus periods are draining. Most of what I have read about prayer counsels me to just keep going, just keep wandering.

Sometimes that works.

Sometimes we need to find another path.

Sometimes we just need to find a shade tree to rest in for awhile.

If you had to describe your prayer life today as a season...what season would it be?
Summer-like with relationships to God and others either growing or parched?
Fall-like with relationships to God and others feeling like they are entering a transition time?
Winter-like with relationships to God and others taking a rest or hibernating?
Spring-like with relationships to God and others sprouting up new life and possibilities?

Once you know where you are today...you might consider asking...

When did I experience the other seasons? What was going on at that time?

Maybe you feel a bit like you are in all four seasons!

Those are big questions for any season.  But they are ones that I will continue to ponder prayerfully today and in the coming days.

For today and the coming days may the traces of God's grace sustain you and stir around you no matter what season you find yourself in today!

Blessings and peace!