The Desert, A Sacred Space

I live on holy ground. My home is the Arizona Sonoran desert, where people walk to lose themselves in the silence and emptiness. For those who live here, the desert is a place of pilgrimages, reflection, and incredible beauty. Sometimes losing oneself in the heat and the thorns is how we find ourselves.  I have baked and I have been chilled to the bone hiking in the Sonoran desert, often on the same day. This is a place where I belong.

The desert embraces, and on occasion it spits you out. 

Thousands of people migrating north across the U.S./Mexico border have died searching for a safe place to live a life. Many will never be found. Within a mile from my desert home, people are walking at this very moment, dreaming of safety and comfort for themselves and their families.  Some of them won’t make it. I think about these pilgrims every day, and do what I can to understand what their journey is all about.