So on Sunday morning I talked about the idea of what it means to sit at the feet of Jesus. The message came from the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42 and it really spoke to me. You see, I am definitely a Martha personality, it feels like I am busy all the time - and to be totally honest, I can take pride in appearing busy. It makes me feel like I am being a productive Christian, but does God really desire us to be “productive” for Him if it means we aren’t really spending any time with Him? Well, I felt pretty convicted about it and decided this morning that I was going to spend some alone time with Him in one of my favorite settings - the desert.

After sending Nathan off to school and saying goodbye to April and Logan (they went to the zoo), I packed up a backpack with my Bible and some water and went off hiking trails with God. I had no agenda, no timetable and I turned off my cell phone so there would be no distractions. Just me, God, and His creation in the desert. And I can’t tell you how awesome it was! I spent an hour and a half talking with Him, noticing his handiwork in nature, sitting in silence with Him - it is totally what my soul needed. Normally on a hike I don’t take any time to stop and observe nature happening around me, I am usually too busy try to reach the goal of getting to the top to notice anything. But with no agenda and no “goal,” I found that I was able to see a lot of things I would have never noticed otherwise. Like the design of certain cactuses, or all the different kinds of bugs around. I was even able to observe a couple of jackrabbits just off the trail; one of which I saw later on in my hike - he let me get about 15 feet away before he took off.

When I can spend alone time with God in nature, it is so much easier for me to see the creative and inspiring God that we serve. I hope to find more times like this morning where I can just be with God and enjoy just hanging out with Him.