It is mesmerising to see how light and shade in a room changes their formation across the day. I didn’t always have the chance to see this. What a blessing it is to experience it now.
You know in Hong Kong people believe in 風水 (in english they call it Fengshui, but literal meaning is “wind-water”), an ancient Chinese belief of how people arrange their houses — the positioning relative to local geography, the placement of curious objects and many things I have never actually heard of. Though not every Hong Kong family believe or practice this, in modern real estate market the ideal choice is still 坐北向南 (sitting north, facing south) besides going high.
However, the reality is, if you have another tower right next to your window, sunlight probably still couldn’t reach into your room even if you have full-height glazing. Similarly in my first home in the UK, where my room’s window faced East but looked directly at the end wall of the next block.
We modify habitats, we change preferences, we chase after wind; however “𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴.”
Shall I say that, very non-scientifically, the sun seems to be an eternal entity when compared to our short living? It rises and sets day after day, nonetheless its warmth like gold radiates newness. As I look for a way to place my desk at my new house to avoid glare, I sit down next to the window, traces the evening light from the window sill to the flat desk, across pens and books and cups and plants, climbs up the bookshelf and lands on the wall. When wind blows outside, shadows of tree branches shivers inside. Blurry patches flicker like ripples on crystal water. Or imagine warmed air molecules touching furniture surfaces, feeling different textures while transferring the energy it carries.
Sometimes light enters and gets motionless, rested, quiet. It is just there, draping over an armchair or leaning against a cabinet. Perhaps it is gazing at where it came from, contemplating its lightspeed journey, from space to a person’s home, outside to inside, without to within. If light too has a soul, it transforms from a soul 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 to a soul 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯. That, would have nothing to do with a carefully planned estate development, a fengshui master’s work nor a perfectly specified glass…it is a journey of seeking, acceptance and finding home.
Abide in Me, and I will abide in you. The branch cannot itself produce fruit, unless it abides on the vine. Likewise, you cannot produce fruit unless you abide in Me.
- John 15:4
07.07.24
