Beforeword: Each day of my restorative retreat at the legendary La Quinta Resort began with a ritual of quiet observation. From the shaded patio of my casita, I would watch the desert morning unfold—light stretching across the Santa Rosa Mountains, breezes moving peacefully through the palms. Their tall, slender forms swaying effortlessly. These palms, I discovered, are not native to Palm Springs but distant cousins of the California fan palm, the desert’s true original. This became a kind of muse for me, inspiring this Shabbat Shalom reflection captured in a haibun (Japanese form blending prose and haiku).

In the desert of Palm Springs, two kinds of palms rise against the sky—the native California fan palm and those imported, such as the Mexican fan palm.

The native California fan palm grows only where hidden springs surface. Its beauty is not in its appearance but in its unseen roots that drink from underground waters deep beneath the surface.

On the other hand, the imported palms, though graceful and tall, survive only by the care of human hands. Their beauty is in their appearance, but it is borrowed. For, without the living springs they cannot last.

So it is with the righteous—those planted by the stream of living water, nourished in the secret place of the Most High are able to endure life’s desert heat and its winds of trial.

And so Scripture reminds us: “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree… Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.” Psalm 92:12–13

Our faith must be more than ornamental—it must be rooted in Christ, the fountain that never runs dry.

desert wind tested—
those planted in living streams
bend but do not break

Afterword: As the week turns and the Sabbath rest arrives, may these swaying palms remind us to bend so we don’t break, and to stay rooted in what is lasting.

Shabbat Shalom.

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Images/Video by Dawn Minott

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In creative solidarity, Dee