The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice
and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly
and shout for joy .”The Book of Isaiah
A desert needs only an orphan’s portion of rain on seeds deep and dormant
For acres of ochre to burst, sun-touched, sun-torched, into desert orchids.
Merchants converged from all over, loads of opal, topaz, nacre, sapphire.
Nomads traversed it, like thoughts crossing a beast’s brow. No one brought fire.
No one knew there was an ulterior fuse of faith here to be found
Until he arrived, exulted, scattered his verses on the secretly gravid ground,
Touching off stem and stamen, blossoms flaming aloft, rife, red,
As the faith spread life to life and oasis into roseate oasis bled.
You have a decision to make: double or nothing.
For this week only, a generous supporter has offered to fully match all new and increased donations to First Things up to $60,000.
In other words, your gift of $50 unlocks $100 for First Things, your gift of $100 unlocks $200, and so on, up to a total of $120,000. But if you don’t give, nothing.
So what will it be, dear reader: double, or nothing?
Make your year-end gift go twice as far for First Things by giving now.
