Every day of those 40 years was a new beginning for the people of Israel: coming into the Promised Land and having to form an entire nation. How did they know how to persevere? The desert. When we live desert experiences, we can hear the Lord, and we can be what the Lord desires for us: spiritually mature, happy, and profoundly fulfilled. Abba Sabas said about the beginner’s heart: Can a man lay a new foundation every day? If he works hard, he can lay a new foundation every moment.

Can you see the freedom in knowing you are always beginning in the Spiritual Life? “The moment we think we have it all figured or that we understand, the further we are from the Spiritual Path. Humility demands that we always come to our journey with a spirit of openness, knowing there is always more to learn. On the other hand, when we think we have fallen away too far to return, we may be doomed to never try to do it again, to never try it at all.”