The Desert Blooms!
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. Isaiah 35: 1,2
Because of unusual winter rainfall in Southern California, Death Valley is, right now, experiencing one of the most spectacular wildflower blooms in a generation. Some botanists are finding flowers there that have not been seen in forty or more years! The very wet conditions that have been causing tragic mudslides in residential areas, have also been causing this hottest and driest of American deserts to blossom in ways rarely seen. Since December 15, in fact, it has rained 2 ½” on Death Valley, which is equal to a whole year’s normal rainfall!
Now here’s something I did not know ten minutes ago: the term wildflower (one word) refers specifically to plants and cacti that appear above ground only in wetter than average years. The term wild flower (two words) includes all of the wild flowering plants, including those that bloom every year regardless of the weather, and those that bloom only occasionally. Botanists watch deserts closely, as they are watching this one now, in hopes of discovering species that have never been catalogued before! Some of the wildflowers are less than an inch high, even in full bloom, and grow hidden beneath larger, fuller plants.
As I watched the report on the news about Death Valley, and as I’ve been learning about this phenomenon of seed dormancy in the desert, I am wondering about something else, too. Yesterday, I wrote about gemilut hesed- God’s lovingkindness that is to be shared with others. As the ancient rabbis and Talmudic scholars explored the biblical concept of hesed, in fact, they came to the conclusion that it was imperative for the sons and daughters of God, in order to be complete in their relationships to God, to intentionally do acts of lovingkindness in the world- to be God’s loving/kind presence to other people in need of God’s loving/kind presence. Therefore, what I am wondering is this:
How many spiritual seeds are lying dormant in the world, waiting to be rained upon by God’s lovingkindness?
All of us who have been called to be children of God, first heard that call through the lovingkindness of another child of God. I shared that viewpoint with a fellow one time who had discovered God while he was in a jail cell on a marijuana violation. He was Jewish and, for whatever reason, the book of Revelation in the Bible in his jail cell, spoke to him of God’s love in Jesus Christ in a way he had never heard about that love before. He argued that it was the Word alone through which he had been saved. How did the Word get in that cell, I asked? God put it there, he answered. Using whose hands, I asked again?
I don’t remember where that particular discussion ended up, but I am absolutely convinced of the truth of how God works in the world. He uses the hands, hearts, heads, feet, ears, eyes, and lovingkindness of his children to reach others. He uses it to touch that dormant seed inside of others that is aching to germinate and bloom. We- God’s children- are the carriers that Jesus has entrusted to carry his Living Water to the world.
Like the unseasonable, unexpected rains in Death Valley, each of us has within us the divinely given gift of hesed. We’ve been entrusted with it. We’ve been chosen as precisely the correct container for it to reach some person, some family, some community that God is waiting to see bloom and bear fruit in all the ways he has intended for them to bloom and grow. But he does not act alone. The dormant seeds in the lives of others might remain dormant if we are not willing to carry the life-giving presence of God to them.
Deserts are blooming. Be a part of making more of them blossom abundantly. And then, rejoice with joy and singing over the colors and beauty you have helped God unleash upon the world!
Because of unusual winter rainfall in Southern California, Death Valley is, right now, experiencing one of the most spectacular wildflower blooms in a generation. Some botanists are finding flowers there that have not been seen in forty or more years! The very wet conditions that have been causing tragic mudslides in residential areas, have also been causing this hottest and driest of American deserts to blossom in ways rarely seen. Since December 15, in fact, it has rained 2 ½” on Death Valley, which is equal to a whole year’s normal rainfall!
Now here’s something I did not know ten minutes ago: the term wildflower (one word) refers specifically to plants and cacti that appear above ground only in wetter than average years. The term wild flower (two words) includes all of the wild flowering plants, including those that bloom every year regardless of the weather, and those that bloom only occasionally. Botanists watch deserts closely, as they are watching this one now, in hopes of discovering species that have never been catalogued before! Some of the wildflowers are less than an inch high, even in full bloom, and grow hidden beneath larger, fuller plants.
As I watched the report on the news about Death Valley, and as I’ve been learning about this phenomenon of seed dormancy in the desert, I am wondering about something else, too. Yesterday, I wrote about gemilut hesed- God’s lovingkindness that is to be shared with others. As the ancient rabbis and Talmudic scholars explored the biblical concept of hesed, in fact, they came to the conclusion that it was imperative for the sons and daughters of God, in order to be complete in their relationships to God, to intentionally do acts of lovingkindness in the world- to be God’s loving/kind presence to other people in need of God’s loving/kind presence. Therefore, what I am wondering is this:
How many spiritual seeds are lying dormant in the world, waiting to be rained upon by God’s lovingkindness?
All of us who have been called to be children of God, first heard that call through the lovingkindness of another child of God. I shared that viewpoint with a fellow one time who had discovered God while he was in a jail cell on a marijuana violation. He was Jewish and, for whatever reason, the book of Revelation in the Bible in his jail cell, spoke to him of God’s love in Jesus Christ in a way he had never heard about that love before. He argued that it was the Word alone through which he had been saved. How did the Word get in that cell, I asked? God put it there, he answered. Using whose hands, I asked again?
I don’t remember where that particular discussion ended up, but I am absolutely convinced of the truth of how God works in the world. He uses the hands, hearts, heads, feet, ears, eyes, and lovingkindness of his children to reach others. He uses it to touch that dormant seed inside of others that is aching to germinate and bloom. We- God’s children- are the carriers that Jesus has entrusted to carry his Living Water to the world.
Like the unseasonable, unexpected rains in Death Valley, each of us has within us the divinely given gift of hesed. We’ve been entrusted with it. We’ve been chosen as precisely the correct container for it to reach some person, some family, some community that God is waiting to see bloom and bear fruit in all the ways he has intended for them to bloom and grow. But he does not act alone. The dormant seeds in the lives of others might remain dormant if we are not willing to carry the life-giving presence of God to them.
Deserts are blooming. Be a part of making more of them blossom abundantly. And then, rejoice with joy and singing over the colors and beauty you have helped God unleash upon the world!
posted by D.Barry Weber at 12:50 PM
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