The wilderness calling - March 4

The term "he went into the wilderness" takes on a  whole new meaning when you enter the desert area.  We went from the Mediterranean climate and wove our way around into the sandy hills.  The men on camels at full speed echo of ancient times - for some not much has changed.  

An Ancient map depicting the sites of the ancient world, from Petra to jerusalem, from Jericho to the Mountain where Moses stood looking over the promised land.  And in the ancient tradition East is on the top - not North.  The world stands topsy turvy to how we know it now and in this land it sometimes feels like that...

Staring up at the stars from Petra they twinkle by the thousands.  It's hard to imagine a time when man had the time to watch them night by night and to plot their movement.  It's hard to imagine a time when the would have found familiar shapes in the constellations and created stories to go with them.  A time when life was slower and more predictable, a time when ones sleep was dictated by the rising and the setting of the sun.

We think of our lives as being so easy now with all of our modern conveniences and in many ways that's true and yet we are missing so much.  When the natural rhythms of the starry skies are your only entertainment in the night your imagination can run free.  When the rising of the sun and the waning of the moon help you to pattern your lives there are few distractions to take you way from the important things  in life.

I cannot deny that life was hard.  I cannot deny that I would not like to give up my light switches and tap water but I do think that our minds become distracted by the bright lights and electronic buzzing that comes with our modern lives.  We have comes so far but it is hard to say if we are further ahead.

Today it is Saturday morning here in Jordan and only Friday evening at my home.  I've missed Wesley's 13th birthday and my heart breaks with the distance that lies between us.  I now understand what it means to feel one's heart ache and to have ones arms ache to hold someone.  With miles between us the cord that connects will never be broken and yet my heart breaks just the same.... Happy birthday, my love.