I remember clearly the first time I flew into New Mexico. Newly married and returning from military service in England, we had decided to live in my husband’s home state. Here I was, flying in to meet a large family, of which I knew nothing and they knew nothing of me. I was nervous. Would they accept me, would I like them, would they like me? I was so terrified that first day, walking into my mother in laws home, surrounded by all these beautiful women, and me feeling like I was not what they would have chosen for my husband. That feeling of course was all me, everyone treated me well, but it was for certain a scary time for me. I had come from a small household, a very private one and now I was thrust into this enormous noisy family.
(Albuquerque from the air)
I was born and raised in western North Carolina, a land of green grass, tall trees and thick forests. I had just spent the last six years of my life in England, a land of even more brilliant green, with rolling green hills everywhere you looked. One had to dig into the dirt to even see a hint of brown there. Now here I was, looking out the window at tall majestic mountains and brown earth, with hardly a hint of trees except along the huge brown river flowing through Albuquerque.
(Western North Carolina, Great Smokey Mountains)
Yet there was something about this place that spoke to my soul. It has taken many years for me to even get close to understanding why this place is home in my soul, but I am beginning to understand.
New Mexico is a land of hidden treasure. One of the first camping trips my husband took me on upon arriving here was to Lagunitas. As we were driving there he told me of how wonderful this place was and how much I was going to love it. Inside I was skeptical, for all around me I saw open mesa, scrub brush and twisted pinion trees, and no real shade in sight for as far as I could see. We turned off the main road and began to travel across the mesa, we passed a lake that had not one place of shade, and inside I was disappointed, thinking I was facing a camping trip out in the sun and wind without shade or shelter. We began to climb and entered the canyon. Surrounded by aspen trees and at last we arrived at our destination, several small lakes, cascading down the canyon, surrounded by a forest. In the midst of open prairie and scrub brush and sun beaten brown is hidden this oasis of green.
( One of the Lagunita's Lakes)
New Mexico hides its treasures. At first sight it is an unappealing land, especially to those born in greener places. But if you open your eyes, if you truly behold, you will see the deep and vibrant beauty of New Mexico.
There are spiritual aspects to its beauty that speak to my soul. As I walk along the mesa near my home, I see the twisted bushes, the tiny flowers that bloom for a day and are dried up by the sun, the cactus plants, the owls in their brown dirt burrows, and I see God and His grace. Life for me has been similar to a dry and twisted bush. Some of it has been hard, a fight to survive, a struggle to grow, a longing for something to wet my dry thirsty soul, but looking back I see that my life was watered, with all that I needed, and that wisdom comes through trials and beauty comes from adversity. It may not be beauty as the world sees it, with a fresh unblemished face, perfect makeup and a 10+ body, that beauty is superficial, but adversity brings beauty to the soul, if you let it, if you bend in the wind, if you grasp tight to the ground, if you reach to the heavens and cry out for water. It is not easy, many shrivel up and die, many become bitter and angry and hostile, but out of sorrow can come joy, out of struggle can come abundant life.
(Twisted Pinon Tree)
(Evening Primrose blooming on the mesa)
(Mesa near my home)
(Burrowing Owl)
There are a multitude of references to the desert in the Bible.
Jesus went to a desert place to pray. God spoke to Moses from the burning bush in a desert land. The children of Israel wandered in a dry and thirsty land for many years before being led into the promise land. God says that he will turn the dry and dusty land into a land flowing with milk and honey.
North Carolina is where I was born, a piece of my earthly roots shall ever remain there, but New Mexico is the home of my heart. I expect to live here all my days, and to rest my earthly remains in the brown dirt of New Mexico.