Wednesday, July 28, 2021
The Desert Lodge
Would that I had in the desert a travelers’ lodge! That I might leave my people and depart from them.
Jeremiah sees the corruption into which his world has fallen. He gives warning but no one takes note, and so he wishes for a secluded place to which he might remove himself, hoping to avoid the coming maelstrom. And so we consider: Do we also yearn for a hermitage when the world threatens? If so, where might we go? If not, how might we help those who are overwhelmed?
The Desert Lodge
Corruption whispers into our busy living, giving no warning, sending no harbinger.
Ready tongues like drawn bows pass along the latest wisp of gossip.
“Be on your guard!” we are warned. But how? From whom?
And so we look for our desert lodge where no caravan passes, where we might step back from the winds of deceit and the torment of war.
Yet still we hear the Teacher’s voice lifted on the steady breeze.
We recall that the world’s wisdom cannot unravel the puzzle of human deceit, nor can the world’s strength bring peace.
We remember that the Lord abides with the remnant, the faithful who rise each morning to intone first light’s prayer.
We remind one another that the Lord listens to noonday petitions lifted on tired arms that seek another day’s grace.
We know the Lord takes in our evening plaint as we put drowsy heads on tired pillows.
“Be on your guard!”
We ask for benediction. We ask for peace. We ask for the end to corruption. We ask for the coming of joy.
And with fresh surety we remember . . .
The Lord turns all harm to goodness. The Lord answers all prayers of the broken. The Lord brings all joy out of corruption.
And with this knowing, a quiet peace settles upon us.
In this knowing . . . is our impregnable desert lodge.
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Image from: https://wilderness-safaris.com/our-camps/camps/kulala-desert-lodge
The Noontimes 
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