The Desert Shall Blossom as a Rose

Song of Solomon 2:12

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹² The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of singing has come,
And the voice of the turtledove.

It was twelve years ago, in 2005, that we last had a season like this one. The desolate desert meadows of Anza Borrego were blanketed in the royal purple of the sand verbena punctuated by the lush desert primroses. Hundreds of people walked delicately through the blossoms. Lovers hugged each other in the irresistible romance the flowers leant to their courtship.

In recent years, the entire desert longed for relief from a fierce sun, desiccating winds, and a drought that seemed never ending. Then the winter of the year of our Lord 2017 finally came with lavish, soaking rains. They washed the mountain crags clean. At long last the former lakebed caught the rain and allowed it to sink deeply into the ground again and again over a number of weeks.

On a recent Saturday Sylvia and I drove down to Anza Borrego State Park again just to see with our own eyes the fruit of rains that had brought so much green to our desolate, desert hills. As before we found hundreds of people, starry eyed lovers, excited children, and rejuvenated old folks all wandering, entranced, amongst the desert gold flowers. This time the golden blanket was punctuated by the purple sand verbena and the white desert primrose.

Besides the flowers, we were blessed to see several types of birds.  Not only did we see doves (mourning doves) but great raptors and tiny hummingbirds as well. The hummingbirds benefit the most from a plenitude of flowers. In addition, great, fat, striped caterpillars sat in the shade of the withered leaves gorging themselves on the rich feast, unknowingly heading toward their transformation into creatures with beautiful wings and delicate antennae.

The hand of the Creator stretched out and reminded us that, in the midst of the desert of death and sin in this old world, God is still personally interested in us, in our joy and happiness. He is still interested in instantaneously changing us into beautiful, imperishable immortality.

Thank You, Lord, for these beautiful reminders of the bright future You have already prepared for us!