God, when you took the lead with your people, when you marched out into the wild, Earth shook, sky broke out in a sweat; God was on the march. Even Sinai trembled at the sight of God on the move, at the sight of Israel’s God. You pour out rain in buckets, O God; thorn and cactus become an oasis For your people to camp in and enjoy. You set them up in business; they went from rags to riches.
I am not a succulent expert. In fact, I paid little attention to cacti until this trip. I had never truly seen their beauty until I saw them in their natural environment. I have always thought the adage, “Bloom where you were planted,” made no sense. I spent just enough time as an extension agent to know that you don’t just plant something anywhere and expect it to thrive. Things grow where the soil, the climate, and the atmosphere are conducive for growth, and the most successful place to grow is where all of those come naturally.
The reason I saw the beauty of the cactus in the desert was because that is where they make sense. They are created for survival. The desert is not a hospitable place for the unprepared or the un-adapted. In the desert, their prickly spines, the variety of shapes, and the extravagance of color are part of what make them abundant there when so many other species of plants do not survive.
There was an authenticness to their beauty in the desert that makes them seem misplaced in other places. It was easy for me to overlook their beauty when they were placed beside a rhododendron on the side of a mountain or a bluebonnet on a rolling Texas plain, but in the desert, they were beautiful. They broke up the vastness, they surprised me with unexpected color, and they gave me confidence to know they would provide healing and sustenance in that barren environment, if needed.
After years with ministry to young adults, I have found that people who comfortably reside in their own natural habitat are more vibrant than people who seek other people’s permission to belong. It is not so much a specific place as it is knowing that the qualities needed are present for them to be who they are created to be. It is not because they are the most culturally beautiful or meet some artificial criteria for acceptance. The person who knows and embraces his unique place in this world and lives into his God-given personhood. is the one who seems at peace with himself and others. It is not necessarily someone who has been told he/her are special, but it is the person who has been told and shown his/her worth and value in God’s creation.
Prayer:
God of creation and love. Thank you for infusing in each of us a sense of worth and acceptance and giving us a place to live and thrive in Your world. Help us not to squander that gift by allowing others to define us in their image, rather than Yours. Amen
The Many Thoughts of Wanda Kidd 
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