In A Dry Spot?

This photo captures a very dry, arid landscape and a lot of hot, shifting sand. It was taken in Northern Arizona in Monument Valley, elevation 5,564 feet, where the precipitation averages only 81/2 inches a year. That little dot you see on the side of the sandy hill is Jim slowly making his way up the side of the mountain. During his uphill climb, he said that he never got a good gripping foothold as his boots kept sinking into the shifting sand dune.   His intentions were to go forward, but the sand stole his stride and moved him back a few inches every time he took a step. Since there was little traction, he needed more time and energy to reach the top. Factor in the sun and heat, magnified by the sand and the rocks, and he had easily underestimated the amount of time it would take to reach his goal: that hole that the wind, down through history, had blown into the side of the mountain. This 25,000 square-mile territory is a preserved Navajo Tribal Park, and it is a wonder to behold.  In fact, you may have seen it even though you might never have made a literal footprint here.  It's famous for the series of Westerns that have been made here and are still being made here.  The landscape is a kaleidoscope of colors cascading downward from the blue hues of heaven to the rich brown colors of the earth.  It is comprised of multicolored cliffs, buttes and plenty of shifting sand. In other words, this is the definition of a "dry spot."  

If we live long enough, and if we have a destination, we will experience a few dry spots, literally.   Maybe we "bought the ticket" to our dry spot or maybe circumstances put us there.  We all know this "dry spot," the one where we can't get a gripping foothold, the one where we slip back a few inches with every stride forward, the one that takes more energy and effort than we had anticipated, the one that turns up the heat, the one paved with shifting sand.  And, when we finally reach our destination, we may discover that something had blown a hole in it!  

More often than not, when we pause to catch our breath, and to clearly observe the landscape or the bigger picture, we notice that all may not be lost.  The wind that had blown a hole in the side of the cliff, had also created a masterpiece.  The results were unexpected and unimaginable.  That day, we had seen red rocks rising right smack dab out of the earth to salute heaven. We saw entire ridges and mesas that were visually stunning, but we had not imagined how the design of those cliffs and free-standing formations would look with a hole blown in them.  Then we saw a mesa of red rocks, and we saw one portion of its ridge, only one part, which had a hole in it - a wind-chiseled hole that streamed the evening sun and framed a cerulean sky.  And it was breathtakingly beautiful.  The artwork, created by the breath of the wind, was actually more beautiful than the free-standing formations or the expanded mesas!   Some One had already been there.  There was a surprise.  Nothing had been completely destroyed - only re-designed.  And, it worked. 

It appears as if Jim is all alone, but, of course, he isn't.  In the opposite direction is our Navajo guide, two friends who made the trip with us, and me with the camera.  We, too, were making our way up our own giant, wavy sand dune, slipping and sliding in an parallel effort.

Some One is there to keep us company, to keep us sure-footed, and to see that we reach our destination: the destination we created or the best one, the one He created.  We like to hike through life with the One who is full of surprises!
 
Keep Looking Up...your dry spot is never really that dry!
             Jim and Linda