Like most people I know, I love sunrises and sunsets.  There are even two favourite movies – Before Sunset and Before Sunrise, and if you have not watched them, do yourself the favour.  But that’s besides the point.  Sunrise to me means a fresh look at life.  After the darkest and coldest hours, normally around 4 am in the morning (statistically when most people commit suicide or contemplate it), the sun breaks through, with the promise that all things are new again, and you have a chance to make the new day better than the previous one.  The twitter of birds, waking up to greet the sun, brings a song to my heart.  Whilst living in the most beautiful house with loads of trees around it in Heilbron, we were greeted by a chorus of birdsong from about 5 am every morning.  Even though I am not a morning person – I even had a sticker on my mirror at one stage saying “I don’t do mornings” :-), I could never be angry at being woken up at that time by such heavenly birdsong.

For us lucky people who live in Africa, our famous sunsets are sometimes taken for granted.  Especially if you live in a city.  But, if the city happens to be Cape Town, you can be sure of spectacular sunsets, often enjoyed by my friends and I after a long week’s work, sipping a glass of renowned Cape Winelands wines, and catching up – normally at places like Ons Huisie in Bloubergstrand, or The Blue Peter Hotel, where you may be lucky to find a seat on a beautiful summer’s eve.

The sunrises and sunsets I have captured over this past, very eventful year in our lives, have kept me going from day-to-day.  On those days in Dar es Salaam when I missed my kids the most, a beautiful sunset cheered me up.  From my bed in my upstairs bedroom overlooking the Indian Ocean and swaying palm trees, I mustered up the courage each day to get on with life.  Now that we live on the farm, I make a point of getting up when my husband goes to work, in time to watch a red sun rising.  And then after a day’s work in my study, I take the dogs out for a stroll through the fields, in time to see the African sunset.

I dream of taking my husband to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe soon, as surely one of the most spectacular sunsets I’ve ever seen, has been from a river boat on the mighty Zambezi, with the spray of Vic Falls gently touching my skin.

May your sunrise and your sunset today inspire you and give you the strength to face whatever life presents to you.  Just open your eyes and see the beauty of God’s creation.

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