I just returned from southern California where I enjoyed the chance to share at a retreat called The Journey. We were in the mountains amidst the snow and towering fir trees enjoying the beauty and grandeur of God’s creation. There is something about the mountains that I find refreshing. As the week ended I joined my wife an hour to the southwest in the desert of Palm Springs. What an interesting contrast in terrain. We had been invited to enjoy the gracious hospitality of one of our friends who has a home in the community there. What I discovered was that there were many people who enjoyed the climate and the landscape of the desert.

My typical response to the desert was to see it as something to move through as quickly as possible. Much like driving from Barstow to Las Vegas, I wanted to make sure not to break down in the vast Mojave desert. My intention was to pass through with haste. But there in Palm Springs were people who had chosen to make a home in the desert. Looking around at the area I began to notice a different kind of beauty and grandeur than my mountain top experience. The desert is dry and hot. The only snow I saw was on the peaks that rose up several thousand feet above the desert valley. It was majestic in its own way, but not necessarily a majesty I was familiar with or equipped to see. When I was informed that summer temperatures were in the triple digits all I could imagine was how much I might sweat and the nuclear reactor I’d need to cool down a house to something “livable”.

As I considered what I characterized as a somewhat hostile environment, I began to notice the vegetation that seemed to exist in this place of high temperatures and dry conditions. The typical front yard was not a carpet of green grass, but a mixture of stone and clay populated by various types of plants that seemed to thrive in this climate. As much as I had thought that the desert was a wasteland there were plants that seemed to do very well in desert conditions. They were at home. My Redwood trees would most likely die from shock in the heat and aridity, but the plants growing in the desert were thriving. The cactus thrives in the desert climate. This type of plant has learned to store up moisture in internal reservoirs and developed a heartier exterior to withstand the harsh realities of the surroundings. And amazingly enough it produces flowers of great beauty.

Two things became evident to me that have been helpful. First of all, different things grow in the desert. Secondly, things grow differently in the desert. As I think of these plants I am reminded of the qualities God seeks to grow in my life. It seems, though I’d like all my growing to be done in the lush, well watered forests of the Northwest, I find a great deal of the growing God has for me is best accomplished in the desert. In fact, it seems I spend a great deal of time in the desert of life and I believe God may be inviting me to be at home in the desert dryness and heat. The reality is, different qualities and spiritual realities grow in the dry times of the desert. And I must learn to grow differently in the desert, adapting to the limited moisture and intense heat. Both these realities produce a different sort of growth, fruit and flower. They demand deeper and broader root systems to collect what little moisture there is. They demand internal reservoirs to store that moisture as a resource. They demand the development of a greater endurance in the midst of deprivation. When these things are developed, there is a fruit and flower produced that is unlike anything else.

The Biblical writer Isaiah says this of the desert, “The wilderness and the desert will be glad, and the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; like the crocus. It will blossom profusely and rejoice with rejoicing and shouts of joy.” (Isaiah 35:1-2). These are words God speaks to His people. They are words meant to give hope. They are words that call for one to be attentive to the work God is doing, though it may come in a very unexpected place and express itself in a very unexpected way. There is something amazing to be discovered in the desert of our lives if we will learn to make our home there, rather than just trying to avoid or get through that part of the landscape. I have come to realize that befriending the desert, adapting to its challenges may produce the most significant growth in my life. Are you ready to discover the growth and beauty of the desert?