In the Wilderness

The past couple of years have been tough for nonprofits, and being able to spend some time in strategic contemplation is crucial, which is why this quote is on my website’s home page:

"It is hard to imagine making any important change in life without an inward journey. Think of Christ going into the desert for forty days. It was in the desert that he dealt with his own doubts and temptations and from which he emerged having chosen his freedom and his destiny. It is in our own internal deserts that we remember what really matters. It is on the inward journey, taken over time, that we develop the capacity for intimacy with ourselves and with others, with the environment, and with the world. It is deciding that we are deep human beings with inner lives that defines who we are and brings our ideals back into focus." (Peter Block, The Answer to How is Yes: Acting on What Matters, p. 76)

This article from Nonprofit Quarterly examines the value of “being in the wilderness” or in the desert.

An excerpt.

“I think it’s important for us in our reflections this morning, not to pass too quickly through this grim and trying time in our eagerness to put it behind us, and to talk instead about the all-new and improved nonprofit sector somewhere just over the horizon.

“That wouldn’t be honest, and it wouldn’t be helpful to you. I know that many of you are frazzled to the utmost trying to deal with incredibly difficult and pressing problems—too few dollars to support too few staff to deal with far too many and ever increasing social problems.

“When you’re thrust into the wilderness, the one critical lesson you may learn is, who you truly are.

“Indeed, it must often feel to some of you like you’ve wandered into a howling, desolate wilderness.

“Now, in my faith tradition, being in the wilderness isn’t always a bad thing. It’s never a pleasant thing, mind you. One of the Christian gospel accounts tells us that Jesus had to be driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit.

“But it isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and in fact, it may be a necessary thing. Why?

“Because when times are good—when dollars and staff are plentiful—we may tend to become pretty smug and self-satisfied. We come to believe that our organizations are going to be around forever, that our staff and our resources and our standing in society are a permanent part of the way things are, and that the inevitable curve of our fortunes is ever upward.”