REFLECTION

Throughout the year the Atacama Desert in Chile normally receives less than twelve millimetres of rain. All that can be seen is mile after mile of dust and barren landscape. But if there is a year with unusually high rainfall, the desert blooms and is suddenly filled with flowers in vibrant colours that can be seen throughout the coastal valleys. All of these flowers have lain dormant for months, even for years, but they haven’t died – they are just waiting for the water they need to turn a barren landscape into a lavish garden. If you saw or walked through the desert on a normal day, it would take a considerable act of faith to believe that anything could possibly grow there. The view from the surface is anything but encouraging, but there is potential life hidden beneath the brown dust. Today’s readings suggest that we are like that. To ourselves, and perhaps to others, it may seem that there is no life in us, no potential for growth or change. But God has been a gardener since the beginning, and knows what lies in our fallow ground, just waiting to flower and become fruitful. (Source: Sunday Living Word)