1st February 2023

Weekly Meditation Verse: Psalm 107 “He turns the desert into pools of water”

A few years ago we flew out to Arizona in February to see my husband’s family, he advised me that it would be the temperature of a British summer and I excitedly packed shorts, t-shirts and sun cream.  Apparently, it is rare to see snow in the desert but that year we did.  As we travelled across the Navaho reservation towards the Grand Canyon we passed a sign advertising the chance to see dinosaur footprints, we handed over our money and parked up, what was usually dry desert rock had turned into sticky red mud and I thought “yuk, it’s ruining my new shoes” whilst jumping to avoid puddles.  However, the upside was that the normally hard to see fossilised dinosaur footprints were completely obvious and we saw many things that we would otherwise have missed.

“Forget about what’s happened;
    don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
    It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
    rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’
    —the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
    rivers through the sunbaked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
    the people I made especially for myself,
    a people custom-made to praise me.”

Isaiah 43:18-21 (The Message)