What is your wilderness?

I imagine that when you hear the word wilderness you get an immediate image in your mind. I have been thinking about that word today.  So of course I went to my 1828 Webster's Dictionary to look up the definitions.

wilderness:

1. A desert; a tract of land or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings, whether a forest or wide open plain.  In the United States, it is applied only to a forest. In Scripture, it is applied frequently to the deserts of Arabia.  The Israelites wandered in the wilderness forty days.

2. The ocean.

3. A state of disorder.

4. A wood in a garden, resembling a forest.

So then I got thinking about my wilderness journey for lent.

This is how I usually first imagine wilderness.  Barren and empty.  A vast stretch of nothingness that is hard to look at and even harder to be in.  There doesn't seem to be anything there - no nourishment, no shelter and of course solitary.

For some this may be more in mind when wilderness is mentioned.  Still pretty empty, but rougher terrain to be navigated and harsh conditions still. 

For many the ocean is wilderness - all of that vast space stretching out to the horizon. The rhythm of the waves and the colors.  It can seem desolate, but we know the ocean is teeming with life.

My wilderness - the mountains.

For the remainder of this season of lent I'm going to keep this image of wilderness in my mind.  Yes, it is still rugged and isolated. But there is nourishment there.  There is water, and the mountains that, for me, are so uplifting.   There is shelter, there is so much to look at, touch, smell and listen to. So often when we think of being in the wilderness for lent it is about sacrifice and 'giving up'.  While I do believe those things are important, I'm going to think a little differently about wilderness now. There are 3 accounts of Jesus being led by the Spirit into the desert.  It is also referred to as wilderness.  When satan came to tempt Jesus there were various things that he put before him: extreme wealth.  from atop a mountain he showed him vast kingdoms and splendor, he promised Jesus everything if he would just denounce God.  There are various things  that tempt us - the pleasures, the promise of 'stuff' and the quest for more.  Where do you place God in all of it? Where do you go to separate yourself from the temptations of the world?  I don't think wilderness needs to be a place of complete deprivation  though when we do remove extraneous things from our lives for a period of time it can help us focus.  For me it is more about taking the time, right where I am, to shut out the world and focus on God's purpose for me and how I am living that out.  If I put this picture in front of me I don't need to physically be in the mountains, but my mind can take me there and then I can imagine sitting there with God, listening for his voice. Should I get the chance to go to the mountains I will also take it, but God can meet me and He can meet you right where you are, so find your wilderness and let Him in.