When most people think of the desert, the thoughts that come to mind are being without water, in extremely hot weather, a lot of sand, oh yeah, and those prickly cacti. Cactus, those extremely weird looking succulents with thorns, that if touched can be very harmful. I recently ran into someone from my past. She actually ventured out of her way to come speak. She hadn't changed. She was still the same mean person as before. The conversation started with her saying, "Oh look it's Doctor I mean the Teacher blah, blah, blah. I interjected a simple "after all of these years, you have not changed. You might as well keep walking and take your negativity somewhere else." As she starts walking off she says, "Well, I guess you just schooled me".
"The joy of the Lord is your strength". You have to get to a point in your life when you know that no pricks are allowed. Whatever doesn't serve you will be dismissed. It's not until you go through what some call a "desert season", where you forget about those pricks and realize the beauty of the desert and the things that grow in the desert.