The Chimneys trail connects the main road with a unpaved road seven miles away. Most people go to the Chimneys about three miles and and then return. This view is about halfway to the Chimneys. As far as I know, the nearest water source is Mule Ears Spring, about five miles straight left. The desert gets about four inches of rain a year; the soil is dust and I had a hard time telling whether the purple or the green prickly pears were doing better. The ocotillo pictured here is attempting some flowers, but it must be short of water, since last year it had small leaves coming out of the pointed parts. It was here that I understood what David talks about thirsting for God “in a dry and thirsty land.” And I saw a strong similarity between this land without water and life without God. Sure, plenty of things grow in the desert, but I would not say that they are exactly flourishing. So, too, we live in a world that when it comes right down to it, is a desert, devoid of love, of security, of happiness. Sure, we experience those things without Him, four inches a year. Yet we think that is normal, because we have never seen a lush forest.

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