Culture

I was sitting on the hotel veranda having some lunch when I overheard a conversation between a couple and their waiter.  The Zimbabweans are very inquisitive, or at least to tourists.  Everyone asked where you were from.  Even people out on the street who were not being paid to be polite would ask where I was from and how long I was staying.  Anyway, I overheard the answer, clear as a bell – “the Midwest”.

The Midwest.  Music to my ears.  But then, I thought, “no, wait.  It could be the Midwest of anywhere.  I didn’t actually hear them say they were from America.”  So, I decided to sit and watch and put my feelers in a new direction, that of the nuances of culture.

I watched them for a while, their mannerisms, their way of interacting, even bits and pieces of their conversation (though still nothing that gave away their absolute location) and by the end of 10 minutes I was convinced that they were indeed from the Midwest of America.

Admittedly, some of what I noticed I rather liked, which reminds me of a story I once heard about a man who was truly cosmopolitan, UNTIL someone started talking about his little hometown …

Against the backdrop of everyone else around them – a wide diversity of cultures, including the stuffy Mr. and Mrs. Campbell-Jones – there was a definite difference in my Midwestern friends.  It was really fascinating to see myself in them and to feel the similarities, almost as if I was outside looking at myself through a window.  Gave me an interesting perspective on my own life!

Earlier in the week I had observed an interesting phenomenon as I was interacting with friends here in South Africa.  I have a dear South African friend who has been living in Canada for the last 13 years.  As our friendship developed I have considered her mannerisms to be purely individual (although there were definitely some Mercy imprints of the nation on her Prophet character).  Since I have been here, I have found that some of those mannerisms are not just hers!  I have been quite amused to find a few of them are decidedly South African.

So, one of the things I am enjoying, but didn’t expect, is a sharpening of my skills to differentiate some of the nuances of the world’s cultures.  Even more so, to use my Mercy gift of intuition to feel it.  It’s great fun!  I like looking for God’s fingerprints.  Even if I see an extreme in the people – you know, stereotypes often have roots in reality – it is fun to wonder if there is a fingerprint hiding under there somewhere.

Meanwhile, speaking of stereotypes, I was trying very hard not to be another loud, pushy American, though my national roots stood me in better stead than my individual design when it came to saying “no” to the street vendors!

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Victoria Falls

There is a scene from one of the “Lord of The Rings” trilogy that has stuck with me for many years.  I don’t remember the exact context, but Frodo and Samwise were in boats rowing down the river and they came to a place where the banks were steep and very high around them, and carved out of the rocks were these immense human statues, dressed in robes and holding staffs of some kind.  It was as if they were guardians of an entryway, gatekeepers for the realm into which the Hobbits were passing.  The scene has stayed with me because it struck me with an ancient, holy, almost eerie feeling, as when one suddenly has the sense that one must proceed with reverence and a hushed voice.

This movie scene came to my mind yesterday because of what I experienced at Victoria Falls.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I arrived.  The falls itself is actually made up of several individual falls, all of which combine to make it the largest continuous sheet of falling water in the world.  Yesterday I decided I would do some exploring and look for the sweet spots.  All of it is beautiful and a worship service of its own, but I had a sense that there would be a place or two where my spirit would soar.

I came around the corner near a statue of David Livingstone to a space in the gorge called Devil’s Cataract.  It is at the far end of one side of the gorge into which the water falls.  From the angle at which I stood, you could see one waterfall immediately next to you and then down along the gorge with its sheer walls and grassy surface, with two or three more waterfalls visible in the short distance.  There were rainbows dancing about, some of the clearest I have seen in my life, reflecting their vibrant colors from the spray.

I wonder what heaven thought of what I felt.  I was expecting beauty.  I was not expecting to be so completely overwhelmed.  This was no illusion or symbol designed by man to capture an image of eternity.  I was looking at something that has its original in heaven.  The entire world we know is shot through and through with streaks of heavenly colors.  My spirit knew it was seeing something familiar.

My first reaction was to gasp as if someone had punched me.  The emotion I felt was not immediately one of delight, but of fear.  Yet it was not a fear I have ever felt before.  I think it is the nearest I have experienced to the fear of those who have seen God and lived.  You can hardly absorb what is before you, in that instant you’d almost feel the same if it was something terrible instead of beautiful because somehow the normal definition of those words has gotten all jumbled up in the chaos of your senses.

This initial emotion was eventually replaced by something more overtly worshipful and reverent.  This experience was more than just the awe of God’s creative design, which is always an onramp to worship for me.  Somehow, here, in this place, I saw into heaven itself.  Instead of looking at the reflection in the mirror that our world is, I had a glimpse of the source.

I believe this is why my mind flashed back to the movie as a point of reference.  For those who wish to see, there are opportunities all around us to see the eternal, the timeless, the expressions of the Ancient of Days.  Every so often a human will make a bridge, and every so often we will find one God made.

Most people will come to this spot and see a beautiful waterfall.  I saw many people come and go over the last two days – snap a few pictures and continue their tour.  No doubt they celebrated its beauty, but I wonder if anyone saw what I saw.  Probably not very many.  Perhaps God specifically made my spirit to respond to this “thin place between heaven and earth”.  Perhaps no-one else ever will.

Tomorrow I hope to go back one last time.  It may be for the rest of my life; I may someday come again.  But no matter what happens, I will carry it in my heart, my soul, and my body until the day I die.

And because of it, my life, like this world we live in, will be shot through and through with streaks of heavenly colors.

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Leaving on a Jet Plane

… again!

This morning dawned bright and beautiful, with the sound of song birds and pigeons cooing.  My friend, Mary-Anne, who I am staying with told me that when she and her husband John first moved here there were hardly any birds around.  In less than 24 hours since I have been here, I have seen several and heard even more.  Kudos to them for restoring the land and inviting the birds back to sing over it.  Their work is clearly measurable!

I am somewhere between huge anticipation and disbelief that I am actually HERE.  I am in South Africa, soon to be leaving for Zimbabwe to visit a gigantic waterfall that has captivated my spirit ever since I heard about it.  When the idea emerged of my exploring some of the land while I am here, the Falls were one of the first things to bubble up.  God and my spirit know something!  Meanwhile, my soul is playing a desperate game of catch-up.

I don’t know what is in Victoria Falls for me.  I am sure it has something to do with the water itself.  I just realized the other day how many of my computer screen savers had to do with water.  I am eager to find out what it is, and mingled with the excitement is some level of nervousness about not missing Him.

A second dynamic is my connection to the stars, and that has to do with being in South Africa as a whole.  I love to be out under the stars and have some of my best connections with God in that environment.  There is something different about being in the Southern Hemisphere, seeing a whole new array of constellations that I have never seen before.  So, I have packed in my bulging suitcase enough clothes to keep an Eskimo warm, so that I can be outside when the rest of the world has retreated to their warm fires.  It is the beginning of Spring here, so the weather can be anything from quite warm to frosty!

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