the cederburg day 3

7 am again. Brewing coffee again. For some reason, this ritual never gets old. I will never tire of the sights, smells, and sounds of the mountainside; or the peace and stillness of the wilderness. It's unexplainably wonderful, and I feel at home. There's a part of me that will always want to be so deep in nature, and nearly one with creation and God. But I know my calling is to people and relationship. It's ok to disappear every once in a while to catch back up with God, but I know I can't selfishly hide. I've tried that before, and no matter where I ran, God found me and drew me to Himself. There's no way I can run anymore.

A bird just arrived to sing to me its morning song. A symphony of a place untainted by the pollution and corruption of the world. And I hope it stays like that. I hope these birds continue to sing their songs freely without human disruption. We tend to conquer and plunder all that's around us, but I hope for your sakes, birds, that we never make it this far.

The rain... that means no cave exploring today, but there is unnamed beauty in the rain. With the rains spring up winter wild flowers. The heat and burn of yesterday can be washed away: it cleanses, refreshes, renews, restores, reclaims. The pitter-patter on the roof lulls me to sleep again, and the scent of the wet earth is glorious. Comparable to the smell of a fresh flower: it brings joy and clarity. Here I am again: I never tire of this place, this rain, this cold cup of coffee.

Yesterday was an interesting day. The sun shone so bright and warm, you wouldn't know it was almost winter! Reminded me of home. We began with breakfast and then relaxed for a little bit. I spent some time just soaking up the sun. We then headed out to the nearby town Clanwilliam to do some exploring. We first went to a very dead flower garden... we're a little late in season for summer flowers and much too early for the winter ones. Nonetheless, we made the best of it, and I found every flower that place had left.

We also went on a tour of a tea farm. 70% of the world's rooibos tea is produced in this small area of South Africa! Who knew?! The name rooibos means "red bush" in Afrikaans. We rode around in a vintage '78 Toyota truck and got to see the rooibos growing in its natural habitat. We stopped by a processing plant as well, to see all the work that goes into making the perfect tea. It was fascinating. We ended up back at our tour guides house/shop and got to taste some of the locally grown teas. They were outstanding. Chris, our tour guide, was an interesting fellow, but clearly loved leading tours and loved nature. He could tell us so much about the area and the surrounding flora and fauna.

He talked of one flower in particular that has an amazing way of pollinating itself. During mating season for one type of beetle, the flower blooms. It blooms with 3-D images of that specific beetle on its petals. The plant will so intelligently spread the number of fake bugs among the other flowers between 0-3, so it looks very convincing. The male bug will see the flowers and think, "Oh, mates!" And fly down to impress the ladies with his mating dance. He dances all over the flower and when the girls seem uninterested he flies off for the next flower... pollinating along the way.

God is quite the designer isn't He? He made this beautiful world and all these beautiful things and we get to enjoy them! What more could we want??



-Kristen