The lovely weather has finally returned to this part of creation! I've had opportunities to sit outside in a park and bask in the warm sunshine while reading a book and appreciate the beauties of His handiwork. The colors and smells on display this time of year are magnificent. Most recently the Chinese holiday of
qingming (ching-ming) was upon us. This meant some time off from teaching those wonderful first-graders! Unfortunately,
qingming is a sad holiday here. It translates as tomb-sweeping holiday. Families will go to the tombs of relatives and spruce them up, put flowers out, burn some candles, say some prayers, and burn paper money and other things that their ancestors may need in their afterlife to keep them comfortable. It's another reminder of the constant need for workers in harvest fields all over the world.
I spent the holiday with friends seeing the spring beauty around Wuhan. Trees were blooming and the nice weather gave us an opportunity for a picnic. Some members of the fellowship here invited a bunch of us to a picnic lunch at the Agricultural University. We walked around the very large grounds of the campus taking in some of the pretty trees and flowers. I've included a smorgasbord of them in this post. The next day was rainy, but that didn't stop our group from seeing the world famous cherry blossoms of Wuhan. That's right, Washington D.C. isn't the only place on earth to see these pretty trees. Wuhan of all places has the third largest amount of trees in one place behind D.C. and somewhere in Japan, where the trees originate. The trees were a little past their prime, but a lot of blooming flowers were still struttin' their stuff. I even saw some young ladies posing for pictures in traditional Tang dynasty clothing. As I walked around, it felt like something out of a book or a movie. The misty air and the quiet and calm of this beautiful forest transported me to different times and places. I was surrounded by hundreds of beautiful, white trees. My thoughts jumped also to Genesis and the Garden. How beautiful and marvelous it must have looked. I was staring at one of the finer things in creation and this is still in a sin-stained world. How did this look when it was absolutely perfect? Thanks be to Him for nice weather and all the beautiful things around us that make us stop and kneel before the Creator of all things. He is powerful and marvelous! Stand in awe at all His hand has accomplished!
The lovely weather has finally returned to this part of creation! I've had opportunities to sit outside in a park and bask in the warm sunshine while reading a book and appreciate the beauties of His handiwork. The colors and smells on display this time of year are magnificent. Most recently the Chinese holiday of qingming (ching-ming) was upon us. This meant some time off from teaching those wonderful first-graders! Unfortunately, qingming is a sad holiday here. It translates as tomb-sweeping holiday. Families will go to the tombs of relatives and spruce them up, put flowers out, burn some candles, say some prayers, and burn paper money and other things that their ancestors may need in their afterlife to keep them comfortable. It's another reminder of the constant need for workers in harvest fields all over the world.
