When Evil and Beauty Coexist

What a strange week,
One moment,
Walking through a tropical rain forest in Western Kenya.
The next,
Overcome with shock and grief with the news of the Garissa attack.
148 lives ended in minutes.
148 families forever changed
Thrown into the unknowable journey
Of the searing loss of a dear one.

And from the forest we carried our grief to the Mara.
And were gently welcomed into an eco-system of awesome beauty.
Breathtaking on so many levels.
Yet, the reality of the tragedy in Garissa undergirded it all
And made us sad.
How can such depth of evil and such breathtaking beauty coexist?
In the same intriguing country?
How could the blood in the north be devastating loss
And the blood in the Mara be evidence of a healthy environmental system?
The confusion makes my heart beat fast and my ears ring.
It’s too much.
The evil in the world that tears the veil of peace.
The beauty in the world that heals it again.
Sometimes it feels like the evil will win.
And sometimes, for a moment, it does.

And then there is a glimmer of light.
A Muslim Imam and a Christian priest
Do an interview together,
In solidarity and respect,
And promise to live life together as neighbors.
They suck the life right out of the terrorist’s synergy.
It feels large and brave.
And I feel hope.
I stop and pray
For the both of them,
And for all who gather in their houses of worship.
And I pray for myself
That God will hold it together
That love will win
That today I will seek peace and pursue it
That I will notice the big things that matter
And not wrap myself around the little things that don’t.

God have mercy on us all.