Just Passing Through
And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
- Mark 1:11-12
I am not sure what I was thinking when I signed up to write a Lenten reflection on Mark 1:9-15 for this first Sunday of Lent. As soon as I thought about it for half a minute, it occurred to me that this theme of wilderness has been a prevalent topic of conversation for some time now. There are wonderful books, podcasts, Substacks, and sermons aplenty, offering wisdom from and for the wilderness. Wilderness talk is trending. So, I have no grand delusions of bringing something new or novel to this conversation. Instead, I come with a humble recognition of the evolution of my relationship with the wilderness.
There is nothing trendy about the wilderness. Long before the days of Jesus, people found themselves wandering in the wilds. Each of us, at some point, finds ourselves in the wilderness – a desolate expanse shaped by the choices of others, a place crafted of our own choices, a refuge sought in the pursuit of freedom, liberation, and healing. Over the course of my life, I’ve wandered through the varied landscapes of each of these wilderness terrains. Presently, it feels as though I'm finally nearing the outer edges of the wilderness.
It is from this vantage point, as I reflect on today’s passage that I receive the reminder that, regardless of what brings us into the wilderness, we are offered the assurance that we are loved by God. Despite the circumstances, choices, or experiences that led us into these difficult terrains, we are marked by God's love. These are the words spoken over Jesus just before he embarked on his journey into the wilderness: "I love you, and I am pleased with you." This love is our sustenance and strength in the wilderness, reassuring us that our experiences are not a consequence of a lack of God's love. We are not thrust into the wilderness as punishment; even consequential paths are guided by love, aiming toward restoration.
There are a lot of weary travellers in the wilderness right now, who need sustenance and strength, who need to hear and be held by the love of God, who need to know they are not alone, and who need others to walk along with them in the wild for bit. We can be conduits of that for one another out here in the wilderness. The hands and heart of God, helping one another along. The wilderness is becoming a sacred ground for collective growth, where the shared burdens and shared joys forge connections that echo the eternal truth – we are bound together by the unbreakable thread of Divine love.
The wilderness is never easy, but sometimes it may be preferable. Sometimes the wilderness of the unknown seems safer. So, we flee into the wilderness, searching for a path to liberation, a place to heal, to be strengthened, to be still and know.
The author and her dog on a boondocking adventure in Alaska
I have been known to go in search of this type of wilderness experience. Quite literally. Boondocking and hiking through Newfoundland, Tadoussac, Manitoulin Island among many others. A girl and her dog, 20 days, 14300km, 16 nights of boondocking, 2 Countries, 12 states, 5 provinces, 1 territory, 3 ferry rides, the Alaskan, Cassiar, Klondike and Trans Canada highways. Wild animals everywhere – moose, fox, brown, black, and grizzly bears, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, bison, and bald eagles. Countless KMs of hiking on various terrain, mountains to ascend, the badlands to traverse, threats to avoid, obstacles to overcome, temptations to endure, myriads of self-reflection and conversations with God. Tears of pain and joy. I am rarely eager to leave these wilderness spaces I flee to. But I am always just passing through.
Whether we are talking about literal or metaphorical wilderness experiences, both the encouraging and difficult reality is that we must go through it. There is no avoiding or getting around the wilderness experiences that circumstances force us into, but there is also no settling in the wilderness we flee to – we are always just passing through. Jesus was tempted for 40 days, he endured for 40 days, and at the end, he left the wilderness and returned to Galilee – a place familiar to him. He did not leave empty-handed. He did not leave the same. He left the wilderness bringing with Him the Good News that would liberate others from their own wilderness experiences.
Whether by choice or circumstance, the wilderness can be brutal. We can get stuck in the wilderness, lost along paths of doubts and fears, suffering and pain, tempted to give up or to settle in. Yet with the love of God as our constant companion, not as a passive observer but an active participant in our becoming, the wilderness is transformed into a terrain where resilience is forged, wisdom is gained, empathy birthed and the very challenges that threaten to consume us can become stepping stones to our transformation and the liberation of others. It is as we continue to journey through that we become strengthened, healed, and renewed. And we are uniquely prepared to contribute to the blessing and flourishing of others. We emerge from our wilderness experiences marked by love and equipped to extend compassion, grace, and solidarity to others still navigating the wilderness of their own lives.
The wilderness remains an inevitable part of our journey with God, self, and others. It is a landscape where stories unfold, where we confront our vulnerabilities and meet with God. Each step we take is upheld by the promise of God's steadfast love and unwavering presence.
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