I was reading through some old journals when I came to something beautiful I’d written down – that Rod had said a little over a year ago – in reference to our eldest son who is due to graduate Shalom House on Saturday this week.
This is the quote – “Cal is in an oasis which will become a garden…”
(There was more but I’m only telling half right now.)
An oasis is a place of beauty and rest and water and life and nourishment. We typically picture them in deserts and they occur when a water source deep under ground bursts out and both life – and the giving/perpetuation of life are found there.
If you’ve been in or around the Shalom House program, you might not think of it as an oasis but it is a place of separating from the old and being immersed in the possibility of new – and Jesus as the Master Gardener and the Water of Life is able to be The Oasis within any and all circumstances in direct proportion to the degree that we let Him… That we see Him. That we seek Him… That we welcome Him and open up our eyes to the Life that He holds.
Shalom might not be your circumstance, and even if it is it might not be where you find your oasis yet but if we dwell with Him and discover the Life He offers He is our oasis anywhere.
In a dry and weary land He is able to burst through and create a space we never need to leave no matter where life takes us.
And because I enjoy words, I looked up the meaning/history of ‘oasis’ – and ever so fittingly, it means “dwelling place”. We’re invited to dwell in Him, the endless Source of Life, fully and completely transportable in whatever circumstance.
His dwelling places are beautiful because He is Life – and Life results wherever He Is.
(You can read a bit more about the Shalom journey here)