Serenity

Temple bell. Waterfall gently sloping into a pool of koi. Crimson columns of a temple. Swans floating gracefully on a clear water. Rain. Serenity. There are few churches that can take my breath away and make me feel God's presence.

I can think of only one that comes to mind as I struggle to find a church here. St. Joseph's in Newport always made me feel He was alive in the walls of the church and within the souls who came every Sunday and sat in the same pews as if there name were secretly embedded there. In the coolness of the air, in the warmth of the flowers on the alter, in the robes of a fantastic priest who every Sunday deliverd a homily that seemed to have been meant just for me...for HH...for the man who sat behind our pew in the same spot every Sunday, God was certainly there.

It is usually in nature that I feel most spiritual. I know that sounds terrible. It really isn't meant to...it's just that I relish in His handiwork. The sounds of rainfall, the flutter of the birds wing, the smiles of my daughter as she watches the sand slowly make it's way from her hand to her toes, the shouts of laughter as HS reads a sign or book to us, the warmth of HH's embrace. The gong of the bell signifying a prayer or a thought. Yes. I felt God's prescence today. I felt a quiet and peacefully state of serenity today. In the shadow of Byodo-in.