Hot and Dry

3211 is hot and dry these days. As you round the curves you can see the heat waves rising from the asphalt that has bubbled up from between the tiny rocks that make up the road. The ac can’t keep up with the heat. It’s almost too hot to pray. Disquiet is settling in my heart as I drive by cattle trucks and see the boney hips and ribs. As removed as most of us are from agriculture, there is still something primal that screams danger when the food supply looks like something out of pharaoh’s dream.
The temptation is to try to do something to change the circumstances. In college, I studied about witchcraft in primitive cultures. The people with no power over their environment would resort to hidden ceremonies to influence spirits to help them. They constructed elaborate systems of taboos and good luck and spirit worship. Because they felt so powerless and so desperate to influence they would do terrible things to themselves and their children. Desperation breeds both evil and law.
We aren’t so different. As the drought continues we set up more and more restrictions. We can only water on certain days at certain times. Billboards scream out that wasting water equals wasting money. The tv news threatens rolling blackouts if we do not use our electricity wisely. All this and it’s almost too hot to reach out to the One who can change the environment.
I find myself returning again and again to the idea of freedom. For so many years, I was bound by fear and anger. Now, I can taste freedom. I drink it in from time to time, enjoying the freedom to dance and laugh and play. Except, sometimes, when I start to feel things slipping through my hands and I want to hold on to it. Those are the times when I want to start imposing rules on myself. The concept is tricky. Some things that might seem to be rules are more habits and some things that seem to be outward signs of my devotion are really rules. I can see the orthodox Jew wearing his prayer shawl and almost envy the sign of righteousness. Then I remember, we are called to be free. Because our Jesus sacrificed Himself for us, we are free to run into our Father’s arms as beloved children. This freedom is a most marvelous gift. We don’t need elaborate rituals. We just need our Father, His Son, and the Spirit. With God, all things are possible.
So, while the road boils and the cattle wither, I will remain free to love my God, free to rejoice in His goodness, knowing that in time the rain will come.