To one who views a vast desert area for the first time and sees the endless stretches of barren earth, these words of Isaiah bring a sweet promise: "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose" (35:1). After the spring rains the desert turns various shades of green, flowers appear, and the desert rejoices in newness of life.
A desert experience may come to one when existence seems barren, when loneliness, doubt, and discouragement envelop him in a shroud of sorrow and fear, and he believes he is alone. At that very moment can come the gentle rain of divine blessings, which falls in the solitary and dark places where grief and fear have parched the ground. Then can come the glorious privilege of seeing the wilderness become verdant and fertile.
In Science and Health, on page 597, Mrs. Eddy gives as part of her definition of "wilderness" the following: "Loneliness; doubt; darkness. Spontaneity of thought and idea." Christian Science reveals that what seems to be a dark vacuity of mental barrenness is, in truth, filled with the inspiration of spiritual joy. The one God, Father-Mother, is ever present, ever aware of His children's needs and ever supplying them. It is impossible for man to be alone, for he exists as a complete idea of Spirit in the teeming universe of infinite Mind. Because of his very nature, man includes by reflection every idea of God's creating. Man is never solitary, isolated, or separated from God, the source of all good, any more than a ray of light can be separated from the sun.
