First, apologies to those who have been checking on this blog and seen no postings lately. Thank you for checking this time. I have had a crazy winter—there is still a Christmas wreath on my front door—and distracted in a dozen ways.

Lent is a time when preachers and spiritual writers often speak of going into the desert to commune with God. I remember a time when everywhere I turned I kept getting the message that I should go to the desert, and I didn’t like the idea at all.

I mentioned this to a religious sister who was acting as my spiritual director. She asked what I thought about when I considered going into the desert, why I was so resistant to the idea. I said I thought of the desert as a bleak, waterless, featureless waste where I would be lost and alone.

She said I had it all wrong, that being in the desert meant being alone with God, having God all to myself and giving all my attention to God, and that God wouldn’t take me to a terrible place. God, after all, is lord of the universe, and loves me and wants to help me love him more deeply. “Think silken tents!” she said, making me laugh and think of every sand-and-camel movie ever made.

The change in perspective made all the difference, as it so often does (one reason it’s so wonderful to have a wise person with whom to speak of things spiritual). Just as I look forward to silent retreats when I don’t have to deal with being sociable but can put all my energy into listening to what God has to say, I can “go to the desert” for briefer times, putting aside everything else and letting God take care of me. I remember that  Jesus went into the desert to pray, and he was certainly neither lost nor alone there, but came back refreshed.

Perhaps for people more advanced in the spiritual life, desert time is a time of giving up the consolation of sensing  God’s presence as well as the distractions of everyday life. Either way, it’s good to know that the spiritual desert is not a place to dread.

Lent is winding down, but it’s still not too late to find some time to spend in the desert with God.