Smitten...

It's official. I am totally smitten. With the desert. If you read my last post you'd know that this is shocking to me. Never in a million years would I have assumed those words would ever breach my lips much less my heart. But let me tell you about it. First. ITS SO DIFFERENT. Like, what? Second. I have a mountain down my street. There are so many mountains. Ones with big rocks and lots of sand. Even the mountains are different. Third. There is no grass. What is grass? But there are bushes of all kinds with green and brown and purple, even, leafs that fill the sands and ad life and color. Also, there are 502143 different kinds of cacti all over the place. Big tall ones, short fat ones, skinny prickly ones, fuzzy ones. All kinds. Its fascinating! Fourth. I see lots of birds, bunnies and lizzards. I aint mad. Fifth. The humidity. There is, like, none. So when its 107 outside it feels like an oven BUT you are not constantly covered in sticky, nasty sweat. You dry out. Its nice. I'll take 107 with no humidity over 92 with 40% any day. And on the same note it drops almost 20+ degrees at night. No joke, I needed a jacket the first morning I sat outside for my quiet time and last night I was remarking how cool it felt and how nice it was. It was 90 degrees still. If I really take a look at what I love about being here (besides being with my HUSBAND, clearly) I think its that all of this represents so much more. Such deep truths. I'm out of my comfort zone and God still shows up. In my head all the years I saw the desert as this lonely, deserted, wasteland of nothing but bad things. Thats SO not true. He shows his glory and creativity and love everywhere. Not just Colorado or the Texas hill country. The sunsets and vastness speak of his beauty in way I've never seen. Here, I see resilience. And grit. And fortitude. And strength. And might. And power. I think thats really where the cactus obsession comes in. They are these crazy looking plants created to survive in a hostile and unfitting-for-most-life environments. They survive on 4.14 inches of rain a year (Thanks Andrew). That's practically nothing. They are given nothing and they survive. Not only do they survive but they thrive. And they offer a unique beauty. One only found in the desert, the hard places. They were also given thorns, armor, to help guard them against those that would steal their water, their blood, their life. I hope to live like that. I hope that I have enough trust in the Provider that I can survive on practically nothing in all environments because, really, he gives us what we truly need. Use the armor given to me against those who would steal. And offer in confidence my unique beauty that was given to show a greater beauty. Guys, I love it here. I'm inspired and curious and intrigued and a million other things. I dare you to come visit.