Even Nowhere is Somewhere

While traveling across the country, we often find ourselves "in the middle of nowhere."   What makes nowhere different from somewhere seems to have something to do with (a) the absence of gas stations; (b) rest areas where the nearest bush or shrub serves as the community restroom; (c) a lack of any measurable annual precipitation... or some combination thereof.    These criteria add up to an abundance of "nowheres" in the middle of the western states, especially Nevada, Idaho, and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.   Most may be content to pinpoint these barren landscapes as nothing more than 'somewhere out west' but a closer look shows abundant differences among: 

Nevada:

Arizona:

and Texas:

The interesting thing about driving through nowhere is that, as long as there is plenty of gas in the car, a few water bottles in the cup holders, and no urgent cry from bladder or other bodily function, the middle of nowhere easily transforms into a beautiful somewhere:

By its very nature, nowhere is absent of the crowds, the pollution, the struggle, and the chaos of the city.  Some may think such places abhorrent for their lack of theater, arts, entertainment, or other traditional city fare.   I like to think that the arts, the entertainment, the music... are still all there, but mostly on a geological rather than human timescale.  And, while driving miles and miles along these deserted roadways, my mind may slow to the pace of geological timescales, allowing me to be more than content to experience all the drama of nature... slow, vast, and breathtaking... at its natural pace.

The judgement of somewhere as nowhere reminds me, on this Christmas day, of the moment when Jesus Christ chose to turn to the well,  to reach out to a woman who most thought of as no one.  Yet, Jesus spent time at the well with the woman, extending a hand, listening, guiding, and teaching, as if she were someone of the same value as the most powerful king or the richest merchant in the land.

These are just more reminders to me to push my judgements aside and remember that:
Even nowhere is indeed somewhere, and
Every no one is very much a someone.  

Merry Christmas!