Stark, dry, lifeless. Skeletal trees thrust claw-like branches heavenwards. It’s Deadvlei, in the Namib desert. These silent sentinels are all that remain of what was once a living forest. They were cut off from the river by the highest sand dunes in the world, the largest aptly called Big Daddy. The beauty is surreal and haunting, as the dried remains of trees dot the white pan surrounded by 300-400 meter towering dunes. Yet even more haunting is the lesson. As impressive as the dunes are, they are simply large shifting piles of sand. In our lives huge sand piles can as easily move in and cut us off from the water of life – God. The world’s new ideas, the irresistible appeal of influencers, the attraction of aspirational lifestyles. And suddenly we find ourselves in a desert of despair desperately looking for hope. “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” (Psalms 63:1). If you are feeling lifeless, hopeless, despairing, let this prayer be your prayer. Let God’s refreshing spirit wash through your life and experience the renewal that the only true BiG Dad, God above, can bring. Flourishing. Refreshing. Alive.
