Yu Garden - Shanghai

Yu Garden
The Yu Garden is a beautiful preserved garden which was built for a noble Chinese man for his parents in the 1400's. He wanted them to have a place to live where their needs would be met, they would be honored for their lives, and they would have good and peaceful thoughts in a tranquil setting. We don't speak the same language, but our concerns for aging parents or our concern for ourselves as we advance in years is apparently universal.


What is it that brings peace? Is it beauty? Yes, but even we all know that beauty is fleeting. (look in the mirror!) Even these gardens are more lovely in the spring and early summer when all the flowering trees and other blooming flowers are in their glory.





A welcoming courtyard where guests could be met and welcomed to their home. When I was a kid, our family friends, always came in the back door. I can still hear that long spring of the screen door as it would open and one of my relatives would shout out, "Got the coffee pot on?" And, of course, we had the coffee pot on. I learned to drink coffee when I was in Kindergarten, and to make it when I was nine.



A place like this would provide a wonderful opportunity to think. Quietly think. We don't have a lot of quiet these days, do we. There is something needful about appropriate quiet.



Not exactly the kind of furniture that we had at our home, but none the less, a place where tea could be brewed, life discussed, and decisions made. I've made some of my most important decisions in some of the most unlikely places. What was important was WHO was with me.
"Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." - Jesus