It’s my favorite time of day. There is color everywhere! The sky is a pale peach. Groups of women are passing by dressed up like flamboyant flowers on their way to visiting each other. Young girls are taking down hand-dyed clothing they washed that morning. The sun is beginning to yawn. The shadows of the children in front of our house are getting longer. My vanilla-colored daughter is playing with her chocolate-colored friends. You almost get the feeling of God breaking into song at this time of day.
The neatly swept compounds around us are being covered with the plastic rainbow tapis that will be the evening gathering place for their families. Children are burning off their final energy as they spin old tires, jump rope with left over bits of wire and rope and set off the mini fire-crackers they have bought for 5 cents at the local boutique. You can hear the happy sound of mommy goats being reunited with their kids.
The sound of a trickle of water is in the background. It’s the third day of little to no water. I managed to fill two buckets today from the trickle. That will be enough to water Ben’s garden and give us all showers. I think tonight we’ll have to get up in the middle of the night to make use of the water being on then. Otherwise we will have no water tomorrow.
I am laughing as I watch my determined Lili trying to jump rope with the other girls. Swing. Stomp. Trip. Jump. Swing. She ends in a tangle. They all laugh. Somehow it’s still nice that she’s still little enough to be learning! I don’t want to rush her. In no time she’ll be teaching other little ones how to jump!
The smell of wood burning wafts into the veranda where I’m sitting. Women are preparing the fires for their evening meal.
Off in the distance against the Saharan backdrop, I can see hundreds of cows making their way back home. They are followed (not led, but followed!) by their shepherd who has been out on his own with them all day long. He, no doubt, is looking forward to dinner and a round of tea after his quiet, hungry day alone.
The other reason I love this time of day is because it’s when Ben comes home! On the days he works in his workshops building and inventing pumps, he is head to toe in dirt and happy as any man could be!
A song goes through my head as I blend into the colorful canvas…
Faithful Father, O so gentle
Lifting me each time I fall
Even in my times of failure
I love to hear you sing a love song over me
My singing God, You’re singing over me
My singing God, ‘cause You delight in me
My singing God, so I’ll delight in You, my singing God
In the winter and through the desert
Where the streams are scarcely found
I will follow where You lead me
From my heart I’ll sing as I delight in You
Grace that makes no sense to my life
Love not balanced on how I’ve done
Just because you choose to love me
You’re love too vast to wrap my mind around
My singing God, singing over me
My singing God, as You delight in me
My singing God, so I’ll delight in You
My singing God…
“My Singing God”, Copyright 2010 Andrew and Rachelle Freeman
