For the LORD your God has

  blessed you

  in all the work of your hands.

He knows your going through

   through this great wilderness.

These forty years

    the LORD has been with you.

You have lacked nothing.

                 Deuteronomy 2. 7

(The wilderness

      is never a barren landscape,

but a place of great wonder

         even in the unfamiliar,

         even on the upward slopes,

         even on the rocky path

            or windswept desert.

Look for His beauty here.

God did not promise

   that life would be easy,

            but "I am with you."

And that makes all the difference

         and all the awe.

We have just to be faithful

                    on all terrain

   and aware of His Presence.

Even here.

Even in this.)

O LORD,

You walk with us.

You hold our hand.

You are with us.

What we are sweating through,

     struggling with,

     faithfully working in,

is never a surprise to You.

Help us to acknowledge You

    and not explain You away.

We have a long chronicle

            of Your faithfulness

    to encourage us.

We have seen nothing yet,

compared to Your glory

    in what You are doing,

beyond our myopic vision

    and far beyond our lifetimes.