A Moment on the Zambezi

A mighty river. Unflustered. Unruffled except for the evening ripples.

Above, a flock of goose-shaped clouds pause to gaze at the watery gaggle beneath them, mesmerized by their own reflection in the mirrored navy-green waters. Vanishing as slyly as the crocodile disappearing under the lily pad, the heavenly puffs morph into bouncing bunnies and dancing dragons as our child-like imagination frolics.

The river banks, festooned with thickets of trees and ferns, occasionally marred by the trampled trails of hippos, alert us to listen for the loud guttural trumpeting of the river horses.

A resplendent sunset. Effervescent. Unrestrained. Colliding with the intoxicating whiff of river life, a perfumed Zambian evening embraces us.

A droning motor, silenced. Laughing, ceased.

“Be still and know that I am God.” God’s Word in God’s world. Wallow in it. The pulse in our bodies responds to the quiet cadence of the evening.

A bird rattles the moment. An African skimmer. A whirling blur of black and white plumage in the cool breeze stirs the gently lapping waters with its orange beak, before gliding to a sandy oasis and the soothing rhythm of the river.

A gray haze hovers in the distance as the campfire smoke of local fisherman leisurely joins the lingering evening light, meandering, river-like, into the heavenly sky.

A mighty river. Unflustered. Unruffled except for the evening ripples.

Thank You, Almighty God, Creator of all Things, Giver of all Moments.

“Be still, and know that I am God”

(Psalm 46:10a ESV).