Rain in the desert, and why your life needs a jolt

It's monsoon, and I love this.

As you may well know, I have recently moved from the lush pastures of the Midwest to the desert of Arizona. Now, I have something to admit about the people who live in Arizona. THEY LIE! When Megan and I came down for an interview and a chance to get know the area, there was one thing that was different. It was brown everywhere. We looked around and the sun was out, it was delightful weather, and every direction was just brown. So, we simply had to ask, "Does it green up around here?" To which they confidently replied, that it does green up during monsoon. It was honestly a relief, and mostly I was excited at the prospect of living somewhere where there was a monsoon.

Fast forward a few months, and we've been living in Arizona and just experienced our first monsoon. It's amazing. It will rain every day, and it really comes down. It also shows the lie. Because at the end of the monsoon; EVERYTHING IS STILL BROWN. Regardless of this fact, I still love the monsoon season. It is so cool to see it raining in the desert, and you can see some small amounts of life rising up out of the dust. The aspect of new life is really wondrous to me. Now, in the desert there is life, but the rains bring in more life. It's as though the desert gets refreshed. (I don't want to play this down though, it's still very much a desert. Please don't imagine the word "lush" like I had.)

These rains make me consider a lot of stuff. First and foremost is my relationships; primarily with my wife. We just celebrated our first anniversary not too long ago, and I've already realized that there are seasons in our relationship. There have been seasons where we lived in the relational desert, there have been seasons where we lived in lush relational pastures. We've had times where we were almost nothing more than roommates, and we've had amazing times where the love and passion are overwhelming. I'm not sure how we move from season to season, but I've got one good idea on how we've sometimes moved out of the desert and into the pastures, and I learned it at church.

There was a church service I was actively a part of where we were trying to recruit volunteers from the stage. (Don't get me started on how much I don't think this is a great idea) One idea that we pushed was that if you want to increase your relationship with God, serve him. If you want to get closer to God, volunteer your time to serve God. Sounds cheesy and Christian enough, and almost pithy at points. But, I know that it's true because of an experience with Megan that I'm incredibly ashamed of.

When Megan and I had just started dating, I was 18 and fresh in college. I had little real relationship experience leading up to this point. My experience with relationships was high school flings, and that was about it. Megan and I were hitting our first ever desert. It was an incredibly dry, and desolate relational desert. Having never been in one like this before I decided I'd phone a friend for advice. My mom. I called her and uttered words I still feel remorse about. I said, "Mom, I don't know what to do. Megan is being such a b***h."

My mom brushed right past my insult and cut to the core. She asked me what the last thing was that I did for Megan. I told her that we had gone on a date a few weeks ago. My mom then gave me the great advice to simply go and buy a card, and a single flower. It would be cheap but, it would be meaningful. So, I did. In the midst of my relational desert, I went and got a card, and the rains began to pour. Our relationship immediately began to change and for the better! In our times of desert, the fastest ways we've gotten out of them was by serving one another. By doing something for the other person when they don't deserve it. This most often doesn't even change that person or their attitude. It changes your own. After Megan read the cheesy card and smelled the flower, the way she was acting didn't change. No, instead my attitude about her did. I got her a card, and as I was writing it, I realized that she was under a lot of stress, she didn't say or do the things that had happened because she was a mean person, but rather because they were minor outburst moments. Moments that I've had, moments that everyone has.

If you're in a time where you want to be closer to God if you're in a time that you feel your relationship with Him is brown, dry, and slowing withering away I want you to find a way out; I want you to find your way back to green lush pastures. I don't know exactly how you can personally do that, I don't know what your exact situation looks like, but I do know one thing: if you serve Him; you won't change who God is, you'll change who you are. You'll grow closer to God, not vice-versa, because God is always close and sometimes we simply try to avoid Him, or we try to shut ourselves down to Him.

Monday, if you want to grow closer to God, if you want to feel like God is right there with you and personally loves you, come to Carmichael elementary school with me. Come hand out school supplies and food to children who are in need, and I guarantee, your relationship with God will get better if even just a little bit.

#love #Marriage #Religion #Christianity #ministry #relationship