After taking a leap of faith into the seabed and across the way, the journey has turned out to be a hot mess. After a year of job-hunting and covid-isolating and random life-simplifying activity, the first discovery of importance is that water is essential to life and food is a necessity for creativity. Life sometimes saps our strength and leaves us feeling dried out and worn down. My biggest culprit for this energy drain is social media. The idea that I can scroll through a news feed or Pinterest® topic for ideas that will “get my juices flowing,” is, time and again, proven to be the opposite.
While I can ramble on about the hours spent on the couch immobilized by the click-bait, I recommend instead a Netflix documentary, “The Social Dilemma.” As you will learn from the experts who created our social platforms, the good goals of inspiration and connection have given way to the monetization of users. Users. Get it? We are the addicts who provide the profits. The industry is designed to keep us immobile and scrolling, not inspired and active.
Before you send nasty comments, yes, I am still on my social networks and I limit my usage intentionally and broaden my interests to receive many perspectives and control my advertising choices as well. But only because I am willing to accept my role in their business model and my responsibility for divesting myself intentionally in favor of things that actually quench my thirst and feed my real hunger.
Exodus 16-17
The Hebrews in the desert were thirsty and hungry. They were convinced that they were going to die. They turned on each other and turned their backs on their God. In the story there is no indication that they were actually starving to death. There is no context presented for children dying with horribly bloated stomachs, or nursing mothers having nothing for their babies or men on burial duties and latrine creation for dysentery. The Hebrews suffered from the loss of direction and vision and purpose.
In Egypt, they were builders, had gardens, and told the stories of their ancestors to inspire themselves regarding a hoped-for future. Now, in their desert, their households fit on the back of a donkey or in a wagon. They found no place to settle and build a life. The ground they tilled yielded little to feed their souls. The story of their generation seemed likely to be told as a blip in the gloried history of their matriarchs and patriarchs. What would their grandchildren make of the year after leaving Egypt when all they had to show for it was a poor, preferably temporary, existence in this God-forsaken wilderness? Had God forsaken them? A poet summed it up later, “where there is no vision, the people perish.”1
And what will my heirs think of my year of living in the wilderness?
In this Exodus story of my ancients, God told Moses to strike the rock and the people received water, flowing like a fountain. Just this week we learned that the water on Mars is likely held by the rocks, hydrated minerals.2 No doubt some scientist and dreamer is now striving to find out what kind of strike will release it. Likewise, God promised the Hebrews new life-giving bread from heaven every morning, and indeed they had food they could not even describe, calling it simply “manna,” which translates roughly, “what is it.” Dew in the desert can be collected for hydration purposes. And sap from the tamarisk tree, as well as other brushy saps are used by chefs today.3
Even in the desert places, we have what we need to reclaim our vision, get direction, and write a new story for our heirs. So it is with me as well. Sifting and shifting through these desert sands, I have found previously hidden treasures for my mind and body and soul. I’ve named my exodus year an unintentional sabbatical. The subject has been fascinating, frustrating, inspiring, faith-building. Stay tuned as the vision is being written, the destination directed, and the roots planted anew.
An exercise for finding your way in the desert:
Weekly–Finding water for life: Look in the shadows of your desert. Instead of running from the dark times of life, take stock of what you can learn about yourself, and the strengths you can gain from those difficulties. What is the rock in your way this week? Name the rock in you that withholds the refreshment you need to live. Name the rock you perceive outside of yourself that blocks the way. If you struggle to see the blockage ask yourself “what is it I am fearful of releasing, what is it that I am holding onto?” What makes my shoulders ache with tension? What races through my mind unwanted? What causes me to despair? It may be a way of thinking, or a job, or an emotion, or a grudge, anything from the past and present, even a long-held belief or desire.
Deserts are strange places, hiding water in mirages and inside shaded and rocky ground. Deserts are dry and stark, until you notice the blooms and the bugs. Surely your desert is full of water where you least want to look and failed to imagine. That is the best place to begin—imagine your current life is a desert and try these exercises to write a new chapter in your life. look in the shadows. Instead of running from the dark times of life, take stock of what you can learn about yourself, and the strengths you can gain from those difficulties. Look for the tiniest buds of hope that slip into your consciousness before you open your eyes in the morning, while you are comfortable and wrapped in the warm glow of predawn calm. Let it linger in your thoughts throughout the day. Revisit that moment of peace whenever you need an energizer. Definitely pay attention to the things that really bug you.
Daily Morning–Finding bread: Look for the tiniest buds of hope that slip into your consciousness before you open your eyes in the morning, while you are comfortable and wrapped in the warm glow of predawn calm. What is it that you need upon opening your eyes each day to get you on your feet? What is the dream you dreamed that can come to life and fill you with joy? Let it linger in your thoughts throughout the day. Revisit that moment of peace whenever you need an energizer.
Daily Evening–Cooking it up: Throughout the day we have highs and lows. Take note of those. But definitely pay attention to the things that really bug you. Like insects in the desert point to water, these no-see-ums in our lives are the clues to breakthrough creativity. What is it that got on your nerves, pushed you to the bring, or just pissed you off. What is it that is frustrating, irritating, a nuisance? Break it down to understand the why of it. Write it down. Ask, “what else,” until you think are intrigued and satisfied with your review. What do you know at the end of the day differently than the beginning? How did it interfere with that bud of hope you began with? What will you take with you, to sleep on? Offer it with gratitude to the universe, or your God, or that which is greater than yourself.
Give thanks to your desert for sharing its wisdom and rest well. The journey begins again, new each morning.
1 Proverbs 29: 18. The Bible, King James Version.
2 Rincon, Paul. (2021, March 16). Mars: Vast amount of water may be locked up on planet. BBC News website. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56400227#:~:text=Scientists%20now%20think%20they%20have,minerals%20contained%20within%20Martian%20rocks.&text=More%20than%20four%20billion%20years,possibly%20with%20a%20thicker%20atmosphere.
3 Arnold, David. (2010, June 8). Ancient Manna on Modern Menus. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/dining/09manna.html
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