Feeling Blessed and Thankful at the St. James Cathedral Sunday Service, Hong Kong

This was our first Sunday in Hong Kong on this trip and my hubby located a church for us to attend a Sunday Service. We took the subway and walked for a short distance enjoying the street scenery of the city before arriving at the St. James’s Cathedral in Central Hong Kong. According to the church's website, there were a number of services on Sundays catering to different language groups of the city's residents.

We initially planned to attend an Englsih speaking service but when we got there it was a little too late therefore we waited for the next service starting at 10:30 a.m.- a Mandarin service. There were a few Philippinos already waiting outside the church’s main door for the service. It was a hot day with temperature reaching over 30 degree.

Though we were under the shade of the church front entrance, the heat was still oppressive. Even in this heat, there were a lot of Philipino ladies waiting to get into the Mandarin service. Curious, I asked the Philipino lady beside me, "The next service will be in Mandarin. Do you speak and understand the language?" ‘No, but as long as I am at the service, I feel good. It doesn’t matter what language the service is.” The nice lady replied without any hesitancy.

The 9 a.m. English service was a full house. When it was finished, we filed in, sat down and waited for the next service to begin. Sitting in the church pew, I felt a sense of calmness descended over me. For the past few days, we were rushing here and there dealing with our Chinese visa applications and trying to comply with the different government requirements and red tapes. We were frequently on the go without a moment of quietness. Sitting in the house of God calmed me down so much that I could feel my blood pressure going down. A sense of gratitude overtook me as I reflected on the blessings God has bestowed on me and my family. The fact that at our ripe old age, both my husband and I could still run around without aid, travel aboard freely anytime we felt like it and able to enjoy everything life offered us was something I should not take for granted. Tears rolled down on my cheeks as I thanked God for everything and for his blessings.

As human beings, we need to pause regularly to take stock of our lives, count our blessings and give thanks to God, our creator and to connect with Him on a spiritual and personal level. I always find that taking a quiet moment in our crazy schedules and expressing our gratitude to God for His blessings gives me energy, rejuvenates and recharges me so that I can face whatever challenges that come our way. God and Jesus, His only son, thank you for being with me for the past many decades and for being with me always no matter where we are! RT, St James Cathedral, Hong Kong 521307