I'm home! For a little while, at least . . .
After over 24hrs of traveling, I arrived last week in Beijing for orientation with the team of English teachers I will be working with.
During our week in Beijing, my team was advised to experience as many of the major sites and landmarks as we could, in order to gain deeper knowledge of the people among whom we will be living for the next year.
Beauty
I had the joy of climbing the Great Wall in Beijing with some friends from my group. What an experience! What a picture of perseverance and creativity! Again, at the Temple of Heaven and at the Forbidden Palace, I saw beauty in proportions that reminded me how great and magnificent my Creator is.
Reaching for something bigger?
China is beautiful . . . its colors, its many textures and rich history. Its people are unique and profound in their outlook. The grandiosity of their self-expression demonstrates the depth of their soul-searching.
I noticed (randomly) at each of the sites I visited that there were many windows and doorways.
Stepping into each doorway was like stepping into a dream . . . everything looked so familiar, yet, so unreal . . . so imposing, yet so fragile. Each doorway led to even greater beauty--an "inner circle," an ornate garden, or some valuable artifact. I might well have expected to reach the end of the tour and discover the proverbial pot of gold, or the center of the earth, or some other rare thing humanity has long quested for. But it was never there.
I could not help but wonder about the thousands of people who were making their pilgrimages to these famous sites. Did they have unanswered questions? Had they discovered the Doorway that leads to life? Would they return home fulfilled, satisfied?
