This snapshot is of one lone ibex in the wilderness near the Dead Sea. The terrain in that area is so inhospitable that it is difficult for me to imagine that animals of this size can be sustained. There doesn't seem to be enough vegetation to provide food, and what drinkable water may be found in this region runs only in trickles during most of the year.

Yet this animal is perfectly adapted for its environment. God has created it to be in this environment and has created the local environment for the ibex to inhabit. It is able to sniff out traces of moisture in the air in order to find small shoots coming up from the arid soil, and every so often in this wilderness a rivulet of water will create a tiny, tiny valley of greenery. This ibex, this deer thrives in what would be a very hostile environment for me to try to live in.

Sometimes (not all the time, but sometimes) I feel like the world is this kind of inhospitable wilderness for the soul. There are precious few spiritual resources to be found in our culture. I don't believe there is absolutely no hope. Our world is not a spiritually dead moonscape with no sustenance, but I think sometimes it is a "desertscape" that is dusty and dry and harsh. Our culture demands more and more of our energy and provides less and less for our hearts and our souls.

But I believe that God has provided all that we need to thrive spiritually, even in a world such as our own. The spiritual practices that have been means of grace for the church through the ages are still available to us in this spiritual desert of a world. Searching the Scriptures still provides food for the soul. Fasting is a nourishment that the world cannot provide. Prayer is an oasis of God's presence. These means of grace (and others) sustain us in a world that would suck us dry if we let it. May all of us in this district find the spiritual resources God has provided and may we thrive spiritually.