Tea in the rain.
The first day of my retreat in the desert at White Canyon, Utah, with Mike Fones, O.P. It rained for hours. Hours, and buckets-full. What do you do in the desert in the rain? You can’t walk, the ground turns to sticky clay. We sat and watched the beauty of it. For hours. Perfect for a retreat.
Mike and I had just finished setting up our tarp shelter when it started. We made some tea and sat in silence, listening to the rain, to the birds who have no shelter from the rain. We watched the plants shimmering. Rain in the desert is so strange; such a miracle. Mike had the great idea to drain the tarp into a pot and fill up all of our water bottles. I just sat, Mary to his Martha.
Here is my tea cup sitting next to the post of the shelter. If you look closely, far down the canyon, you can see the edge of the storm coming over the horizon, coming our way. The rain is almost finished, just as Mike is filling up the last water bottle and my heart finally finds peace. Strange, that perfect timing, as if planned.