Reflection: Have you seen Christ lately?

The following reflection was shared by Emma Halgren at morning prayers today.
You can find the full liturgy here.

Reflection: Have you seen Christ lately?
As the road outback unfolds like a ribbon, I look for the telling signs of a Christ-like figure that matches the road and the image within my mind.
Gnarled old trees bend to usher me on through corrugations and dust and casually I look in case I see the Christ within my mind.
An emu runs with a determined stare followed by several more, ignoring me and my road ahead, passing by until it is no more.
The faded homestead now left empty and bare flickers through the mallee scrub. A house, once a home of laughter and tears, now stands open to the elements and years and still I look for the Christ in my mind: could I possibly see Him here?
The whitened bones of a lonely steer glisten in the heat of the day, discarded and broken though once prized and nurtured; surely I couldn’t see Christ here.
A family of four, wide eyed and expectant, welcome me into their home. Their hopes have been sucked dry by the cancerous drought, as day after day the rains pass them by.
Could it be here that I find the Christ in my mind?
In the distance ahead a ramshackle pub quivers in the heat of the day and in the silence of the bar a knowing nod welcomes me this day.
Words are spoken of good times and hard, a laugh, a curse is mixed with what was needed to say and a departing handshake all cracked and hard sees me on my way. Could this have been the Christ of my mind?
As the night sky closes and the birds call their rest in the dark protective trees and as silence falls in the great outback, I know that I have seen Christ in all of these.
Dennis Cousens
Frontier Services Cunnamulla Patrol