From My Nature Journal: All Who Are Thirsty

Chihuahuan Desert

We took a hike last week in the Chihuahuan Desert of New Mexico and ran out of water along the way. It wasn’t a problem at all: we were nearing the end of our trek by the time the water was low and drained our nalgenes with that knowledge. But we did continue long enough to become somewhat thirsty before finishing.

It has caused me since then to do some thinking about true thirst. I’m not sure I’ve ever been thirsty or dehydrated to a point of danger, though there have been many times I’ve been thirsty to discomfort. In fact, altitude sickness here in Colorado or other high places first seems to manifest itself in low-grade head achiness before it turns to nausea; visitors and natives alike do well to simply drink a lot more water than they may be used to in order to avoid it completely. Actually, they say that when one hikes in arid areas carrying ample water (minimum two quarts per day), one should keep ahead of their thirst: in other words, they should drink smaller amounts often, before any inclinations of thirst even present themselves. (This concept would really preach!!!) Gail is much better at that than I; usually I don’t even think of it, then get thirsty and drain half a bottle in two quick gulps. Or if she and I are only out on our regular three-mile exercise circuit, I’ll just drink hers, which can annoy her.       : )

I’ve read of people who’ve died while hiking the desert, most typically the inexperienced who leave their car at some remote parking area in an expansive southwestern public park, and either lose their way as they hike or bite off more than they can chew. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that they take on more than they can swallow.

But it’s the feeling of thirst I am trying to think about today, because, wouldn’t you know, the Bible has something to say about that… What would it be like to desire God’s presence MORE than one would even desire water while in danger of dying of thirst? Psalm 42 says. “As the deer longs for the water brooks, so my soul longs for You, O God.” Or again, Psalm 63, “God, I will earnestly seek You. My soul thirsts for You… as in a dry and weary land where there is no water…”

What would it be like to desire

God’s presence MORE than one

would even desire water while

in danger of dying of thirst?

Let’s get into it a bit. Consider the many words that can denote thirst or dryness, and think about them as you do. Thirsty. Dried. Dehydrated. Arid. Shriveled. Scorched. Burnt. Baked. Sweltered. Waterless. Sere. Desiccated. Unslaked. Dry as a bone. Dry as dust. Parched. Hot. Blistering. Scalded. Searing. Sizzling. Scorched. Famished. Blazing. Barren. Bone-weary. Weak. Deserted. Faint. Desolate. Bleak. Inhospitable. Singed. Forbidding. Drought. Wilted. Torched. Forlorn. Blistered. Forsaken. Kindled. Evaporated. Withered. Blighted.

Just reading them over now makes me need to lick my lips. Or go ahead, try whistling after you read them. They’re enough to make one want to go right to the faucet or fridge this moment and wet one’s whistle.

Physical thirst is one thing. Spiritual thirst is similar, but is another. Thinking of physical thirst helps me imagine my need for God, helps me know that my spiritual thirst can and will indeed be satisfied. Jesus and St. Peter promise it (John 4:14 and Acts 3:19): 
“…Whoever drinks of the water I (Jesus) will give him will never thirst again… but will become in him a wellspring, a river springing up to eternal life... So turn… that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.”

I like the song:

All who are thirsty, all who are weak:

Come to the fountain. Dip your heart in the stream of life.

Let the pain and the sorrow be washed away

In the waves of His mercy, as deep cries out to deep:

“Come, Lord Jesus, come.”

Or one from my youth:

And Jesus said, “Come to the water, stand by my side.

I know you are thirsty: you won’t be denied."

~~ RGM, November 6, 2014,

from a journal entry a couple months back

POTM...*: Meet the Organs

(*Photo of the Month)

OK, I’d like to introduce you to something most of you are not likely to have seen before, the rugged Organ Mountains just east of Las Cruces, New Mexico. (Let me know if you’ve seen them!) Gail and I have been coming down here for several days each month to work with a church of fantastic people, and a collateral blessing has been our opportunity to gaze upon this vista many times each day. In fact, I’ve come to consider them one of the top mountain views I’ve seen in the United States, right up there in my estimation with Colorado’s Maroon Bells, Wyoming’s Tetons, and Washington’s North Cascades. I think the reason I like them so much is that they always look different; the varying crag or cloud shadows, light angles, cloud cover, and particular vegetation catching the sun assure that they never look the same five minutes from the time before. It’s almost kaleidoscopic. We took this particular photo one day our last time here on our way to an evening hike.

This is a very interesting part of the country, barely forty miles from the Mexico border. Throughout southern New Mexico and elsewhere, small mountain ranges rise up in profusion out of the vast flatlands of the Chihuahuan Desert, the third largest desert in the Western Hemisphere, shared with Arizona, Texas and Mexico. The small ranges are called ‘sky islands,’ a very fitting description, towering over the lowlands around them, possessing much cooler temps, higher precip, and extremely different flora and fauna than that found on the desert floor a very short distance away. The Organs themselves are a range less than ten miles long from north to south, and perhaps three wide east to west, with a maximum elevation of only about 9000 feet; but standing at any high point in Las Cruces, which is itself about 3900 feet above sea level, one can scan a 360-degree panorama and see numerous sky island ranges like them at varying distances – the Dona Anas, Robledos and Potrillos among them. The name is given to this range for its supposed likeness to organ pipes, a stretch to be sure but a classy thought!

So far in the Organs themselves, we’ve been able to hike the Dripping Springs, Aguirre Springs and Soledad Canyon areas, seeing cool plants and animals endemic to these kinds of habitats. (Aguirre Springs is where we snapped the photo of that Mexican Screech Owl that was my photo of the month back in June.) And since it’s all a new habitat to us, we find ourselves enjoying it immensely. Additionally, and also new to us, the extended area contains thousands of acres of pecan trees and chili fields nestled along the Rio Grande Valley.

Finally, and interestingly, since beginning to come down this way early in the year, the Organs and several surrounding but separated sky island areas have been incorporated into a brand new national monument, the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, designated May 21, 2014. This always seems a controversial thing locally as the government assumes land, but it truly is a unique and lovely area worthy of some kind of recognition.

So we gaze upon their beauty often. You should have heard the people coming into church last Sunday morning, “Did you see them today on the way here?”

Shout for joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name! Say to God, “How awesome are your works!” (Psalm 66:1-3)

Shout for joy, you heavens! Rejoice, you earth! Burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. (Isaiah 49:13)

~~RGM, September 8, 2014