Sorry folks for the late Christmas wishes. We had been busy at the temple and though we don't celebrate Christmas in a big way, we still spruce up the place and put up our old Christmas tree. That tree must be at least ten years old but it still stands tall with pride and dignity with all its decorations and looks pretty good. On Christmas eve, Head Nun will cook something special and that's about all the celebration that we do.
This year, we had something different. The Headmistress of a nearby school had asked Head Nun whether her students could come and sing Christmas carols at the temple on Christmas Day. We were rather surprised as they had never done this before, nevertheless Head Nun agreed. So we tidied up the temple and at the same time prepared some refreshments for the children. Some temple devotees volunteered to donate cupcakes and ice cream, so everything was arranged and everyone looked forward to Christmas Day.
It was a lovely morning with bright sunshine when the children assembled at the temple and soon, Christmas carols were echoing through the walls of the prayer hall. I don't remember having heard carols being sung in the temple before and the innocent voices of the children filled us with much joy and delight - and I'm sure Lord Buddha was equally pleased! Their renditions of "Silent Night, Holy Night" and "The First Noel" were especially beautiful and touched our hearts deeply. A few of the nuns even shed tears. It will be a long time before we forget this Christmas morning. I only wished we had some snow to complete the picture!
As someone said, there's so much more to Christmas than just Christmas trees and lights - it's the loving, sharing and caring which should always be a part of our daily lives and not put away on a shelf like baubles and tinsel after the Christmas season is over. Let us live Christmas every day!
Wishing you love, joy and peace.
💝With Metta,💝
Da
No comments:
Post a Comment