Camels Cross the Desert

Although we have paced in the lounge for years, a plane never lands for us, never accepts us as passengers. Meanwhile, God keeps trying to get our attention. He does not use the loudspeakers which pump in distracting music all day. No, He keeps whispering in our hearts that He has a row of camels standing in the hot sun and tied to a fence. There is a placard around each camel's neck with each of our names scrawled across them, waiting to take us through the desert. The desert teaches us how to pray and purifies our souls. Listen to words of wisdom from a Henri Nouwen, a brilliant Dutch priest who studied psychology and taught at Notre Dame, Yale, and Harvard. Father gave up honor and prestige to live and write for ten years with the mentally handicapped in one of Jean Vanier's L'Arche Communities in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.

“We enter into solitude first of all to meet our Lord and to be with Him and Him alone. Only in the context of grace can we face our sin; only in the place of healing do we dare to show our wounds; only with a single-minded attention to Christ can we give up our clinging fears and face our own true nature. Solitude is a place where Christ remodels us in his own image and frees us from the victimizing compulsions of the world.” ― Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Way of the Heart: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers

Let's allow our children to slow us down because they are instruments of God, teaching us the ways of the Lord.