"This is my prayer in the desert..."

"This is my prayer in the desert,
when all that's within me feels dry.
This is my prayer in my hunger and need,
my God is the God who provides

I will bring praise,
I will bring praise,
No weapon formed against me shall remain.
I will rejoice,
I will declare,
God is my victory and He is here..."

I have been walking with Jesus...in the desert...this month.  Sitting with him in the sand.  Hillsong's "Desert Prayer" has been a wonderful companion this morning as I've thought about some of the lessons I'm gleaning on this voluntary journey, this vision quest I've eagerly signed-up-for.  I am so grateful he has been willing to let me tag along.

This is one of the "water" poems that my inner teacher...and master...trickled across my lips, poured over my brow, and wrung from the stem of a desert aloe, to slake my thirst for "living waters."  Poetry seems to be the primary language spoken "in this place" of walking...and watching...with him.


Master?
Don't you think that
If we walk more quickly
we might reach
an oasis,
find
a
small green
something
poking from the sand...
the promise
of
what will
quench
our thirst and
wash the
grit from our eyes?

why do you walk so slowly
are you not hearing
me
I thought you'd read
the Scripture...the Torah?

Don't you remember
the stream that
sprang from the rock
for the Children of
Israel?

Are you not seeking this
water
as we go?

Look, there...
there are
rocks over there,
boulders we could
strike,
crevices to
wedge our hopes in
and pry open a
promise.

Why do you walk so slowly...
your steps
seem aimless and
without purpose...
you are
not moving
anywhere,
towards
anything...
are you?

Your eyes are not
even open...
are they?

I think we are circling
back
around and around, 
over and over,
the same
ground,

looking down,
I recognize that
grain of sand,
I am sure those are
my footsteps from yesterday,
fading right before
my eyes as
the sands shift,
in the changing
light of
forty days and
forty nights...I know
I am counting
seconds,
minutes,
hours,
days...

Don't you know where you are
going "beloved son,"
or are you walking
just to walk
never looking back at where
we've been,
or off in the distance
to where we
might be going,
only being where we
are?

Is there a destination?
Is there a plan,
a map,
a charted course?

"Within"

Within?

The destination is
within?

We are circling
within?

Within?

"The kingdom of heaven
is within..."

Let's sit...

"No, let's kneel..."

And so we kneel in the sand, together...in silence.... and are watered by a spring that flows from within...

"True silence ... is to the spirit
what sleep is to the body,
nourishment and refreshment."
- William Penn, 1699

offered from the desert place...with Love,
Kate
Kate Robertson, CS