To be commanded to love God at all, let alone in the wilderness, is like being commanded to be well when we are sick, to sing for joy when we are dying of thirst, to run when our legs are broken. But this is the first and great commandment nonetheless. Even in the wilderness – especially in the wilderness – you shall love him.
Frederick Buechner

At times of our wandering, whether in the desert, among the cliffs, or in the deep valley of dark alleys, we can feel estranged from God, from Man, from ourselves.  We know the homelessness of the lost and the seemingly abandoned.

But we are commanded to love, no matter how we hunger, or how tenuously we cling to the precipice, or how hidden we are in the desolated dumpsters of life.
Always, always, love brings us back to what we are created to be.

We are designed to bend low and bow down, built for kneeling,  able to smile through tears and cry while laughing.

We know the paradox of being so sick, so dying, so broken, so lost in the wasteland that rescue will be our ultimate joy.

We are found: found loving, never found wanting.