“The wilderness, by design, disorients. As any wilderness trekker past or present will tell you, the wilderness has a way of forcing the point, of bringing to the surface whatever fears, questions, and struggles hide within. Nothing strips you down to your essential humanity and inherent dependency quite like submitting to the elements, surrendering to the wild. In the wilderness, you find out what you are made of and who your friends are. You are forced to leave behind all nonessentials, to quiet yourself and listen.” ~ Rachel Held Evans, from Inspired

What a year this has been, right? And it’s not over yet.

I was thinking about that when I read the quote from Rachel Held Evans who catalogues how many of the people in the Bible pass through “the wilderness” for terms (days or years) starting with the number 40: Noah, Jesus, the Israelites.

At first I thought, “How many days have I been on my grueling temporary job?” 37 and counting… Next Tuesday is Day 41 for me.

(Hmm, I wober if there’s anything else significant happening next Tuesday? Maybe next Tuesday is Day 41 for a lot of people? I hope so!)

Then I remembered what year it is: 2020

20 + 20 = 40

This whole year has been the wilderness, right? (And not in the “good camping” kinda way. This year has totally been “roughing it.”)

Let’s hope all of our wilderness experiences are over very soon. Who’s with me?