Today I have been back in Maralal for 3 days. My daughter and I, with two of our dogs –
tiny Mouse and huge Bruce Bruin the Almighty – traveled back from Ngurunit on
Monday and since then I have been trying to adjust to the drastic change
between the two places. Ngurunit hot,
Maralal cold. Ngurunit peaceful,
beautiful and clean, Maralal noisy, full of people and cars and lots of garbage
– though it does have its own weird charm and beauty, if one looks hard. Ngurunit a place of hanging out and doing
creative projects, Maralal where I am supposed to be productive and get lots of
‘office work’ done which just translates to lots of paperwork. Ngurunit where one drives 6 km to get network
under a certain tree thus having a choice to know what is going on in the rest
of the world or just live unconnected, Maralal where network is constant and
everywhere and the world hits you in the face where ever you turn and the
emails and notifications are endless and compelling. So different, yet only 200 km apart. Anyway, I was just reading from my notebook
of writings, which hasn’t been touched since last week due to too many
distractions here, and wanted to share my last entry from November 29th. Makes me want to get back to Ngurunit as fast
as I can. Here it is:
29 November 2016
“The experiences made me who I am but who I am also made the
experiences”. Thought of early morning
as I listen to the birds wake up in Ngurunit and greet the sunrise while I
meditate on just being. It rushed in on
a wave of joy of being alive and knowing God as I do. We are all wrapped up in life and life is all
wrapped up in us. It cannot be separated. How we take it all, everything that comes at
us, is hinged to how we are made, and that is God. The weaving in the womb. The knowing us as we are knitted
together. The essence of our soul. What is our base belief – the thing that
holds us together and makes us tick.
That is the key to our perception of everything else that comes into or
out of our lives. That basic “being”.
Of course, it all gets complicated by the interactions of
all the other “beings” around us – all those people that come into our lives
(or out of) and bring with them their own set of what holds them together and
makes them tick. But it always holds true
that who I am makes the experience. How
I take it- how I perceive it – how I react to it. The rainy day can be a joy or an
annoyance. The trouble can be a lesson
or a trial. The person met can be loved
or hated.
The beauty of this day is unfolding around me. Sun coming up has put pink hews in the
sky. Mt Poi has a thick cloud hat
on. Clouds in the east like a huge angel
fish. Birds singing. Goats making a racket in the river bed. Foxy, the neighbor dog, has come to
visit. Bruin is trying to play with
her. Everything is damp from the bit of
rain yesterday afternoon. Praying for a
lot more rain. All the water tanks
mostly empty. We could really use a few
heavy showers to fill them. Another day
has started. I greet it with joy.
