Beauty in the Barrenness

It’s easy to miss the beauty when struggling to stay balanced.

 Avoiding the sharp, unsteady rocks becomes our goal.

Being careful not to step on the wrong rock, the one rock that will send us toppling as our foot gives way to the unexpected movement of dry stones unevenly stacked, we move forward.

Slowly.

Carefully.

Hesitantly.

Sometimes reluctantly.

And yet there’s beauty there in the barren creek.

There’s unexpected treasures where water once flowed freely.

Maybe it’s in the forced slowness of this pace that we’re finally able to notice what we otherwise could have missed.

And maybe it’s only because of the seasonal lowering of the waterline that we’re able to see our roots clearly.

In the drought, we find out what we’re holding onto most tightly.

In the search for water, we realize just how strong and deep our roots have really grown.

We know we need water for life.

By digging deeper, we know we will be refreshed……………….in time.

Like a deer longing for water in a dry, thirsty land;

we show up at the barren creek time and time again.

We nibble on what’s left of life,

because deep inside we know there’s water.

Under our feet, somewhere, the water still moistens the deepest parts of us, and one day soon it will once again run over the rocks we now find painful.

And these very rocks that trip us up today will become the twists and turns of the water flow tomorrow, the hidden guides of our creek’s current.

Hosea 13:5

I cared for you in the wilderness, In the land of drought.

Psalms 63:1

O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.