Wilderness is an idea as much as it's a place. I've been in the desert region in Israel  that was probably Jesus' wilderness. It was desperately hot and dry, with no shade anywhere. I was quite ill. I've also been in hot, dry deserts in Egypt and Australia, and the sense of being exposed to the elements with no relief is quite overwhelming. 

In the windows of King's College, Cambridge, the wilderness is depicted as a deep forest. Trees everywhere. At first glance it seems quite inviting by comparison to a hot, dry, sandy desert, but look a little longer, remember the menacing quality of the forest in all the Bavarian fairy tales, and the forest seems a less friendly place. Think of Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood – where were they all abandoned to their fate, never to be seen again? The forest. Deep, dark, miles from anywhere you could shout for help – for Europeans, this is what wilderness means.

The twenty first century perhaps has a new kind of wilderness: I feel more desolate and isolated in a shopping mall than I ever do in the forest. Or perhpas worse, one of those terrible pedestrianised high streets where half the shops have been given over to temporary bargain basements, and half of what remains is boarded up. Or a bleak  industrial estate – acres and acres of concrete and utility buildings with nothing beautiful or inspiring to relieve the deadness.

Wilderness doesn't have to be a place, then, but is anything that represents isolation and coming face to face with your inner demons.  Jesus' experience in the wilderness was undertaken deliberately as a time of preparation of the self for his future ministry. A Lent wilderness is more than just a walk in the woods; it's a deliberate act of self-preparation. What action do I need to take to prepare myself for the next phase of work and life? A course of therapy or a silent retreat might do it for some. Or simply taking the daily discipline to contemplate those parts of your life that are otherwise routinely kept in the corners, while we fill our lives with brighter and happier things.   Dave Perry of Dave's District Blog (not the Dave Perry that plays in the Effras) has been posting a series of photos and thoughts about wilderness, looking at the wild places in the Lake district. They're all good, and well worth a visit (start here). One in particular I've been back to quite a few times – I don't know quite how he achieved this effect, but the photo is almost Constable-esque in the way the sky seems more solid and permanent than the earth.