Estes Canyon in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona
Face it: many parts of the desert aren’t very pretty.
I remember driving (well, I wasn’t driving, since I didn’t even have a learner’s permit then) across central New Mexico, and it was not particularly beautiful. In fact, it was mile upon mile upon mile of sage brush. Nothing but sage brush, sand, fences, and oil wells. And an occasional cow or 100.
A cow in the trail to Broken Bow Arch, Utah
Even places with a bit more variation aren’t typically regarded as “beautiful”. It’s so barren; so lacking in life. It’s greys and browns; rocky hills and sandy plains. There is very little hospitality offered by this land, and, except for the rock formations, there is little variation for miles and miles of scenery.
Grey and brown hills in Death Valley near Saratoga Springs, California
But just because some would call this place ugly doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love it any less than He loves the places we would consider beautiful. We’re good at quoting platitudes like “God is no respecter of persons”, but we forget that He’s also no respecter of our idea of what is more beautiful and therefore more important.
Chisos Mountains along the Oak Springs Trail in Big Bend, Texas
God created the desert because the planet would have been incomplete without it. He saw that there was a need for the desert, and so in His infinite creativity, He created it. Even the endless plains of sage brush were in His design.
Palm tree oasis above the Palm Bowl in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California
The sin of the man and woman brought curses on the desert, just as it brought pestilence to the lusher places. But God still loves the desert.
Weird and wild formations in Cathedral Gorge State Park, Nevada
It is a beautiful thing to see the desert through God’s eyes, to realize the intense love that He has for all His creation, including the dry places – the places that seem endlessly the same, the places that cry out for rain to make them fresh again. The places that would be ugly except for something in them that say, I am part of the Father’s world, I am a creation of the King, and I am beautiful.
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