the desolation of Advent's hope

God is the God who meets us in our desolation. As deserted as our hearts may be, as sandy and nutritionless as they may feel, Christ sits silently with us there in our desolation, however deep. I cannot help but imagine the sand of Anza-Borrego: large clumps of sand mixed in with cactus spines and dry sticks in a sort of desert salad. And Jesus is there. God has shown up in the world, in the flesh. In the desolate flesh.