Let Me Kneel Down and Pray

What is it like to pray in a very old church? My boyfriend went for a job assignment at a foreign country, one that has many old churches, and I am excited for him yet also envious at the same time.

I have long developed a fascination with old buildings/structure, especially those which still used and/or well taken care of. Their architecture tell us what and how their maker think, their ambition and the current trend when it was built; it tells us about the past, it shows us the past. With praying sites it's even better. Temples, churches, mosques, just name your praying site. Not only the architecture tells us about the past, there are certain feeling that lingers there: hopes, faith, submission, dreams.

"Cogito ergo sum", Descartes said. "I think, therefore I am." This sentence was to proof the existence of human conciousness. It is aptly believed by many people. It's the era's mantra: if you believe it, you can achieve it. From curing the canker to a coveted job position, you can do it if you believe it. If this is so, won't it make sense that such strong thought will leave its marks? In an old praying site all the hopes and dreams and faith stay well after the person who feel it left. It's the believe that their God will help them. And after numerous years the feeling still lingers, an echo of the past.

A secluded Balinese temple, a church used by many generations, a mosque built in the 18th century, a buddhist monastery hidden in the mountain since years ago, the places where their worshippers can bend their weary head, kneel [in front of the altar], and pray. Where they can tell their woes and whisper their hopes and feel safe and protected once again. Wouldn't it be wonderful to visit such places? To have the past spoken to us, and to know the true strength of humans' faith.

And let me bow my head humbly, let me kneel down and pray. It will be my date with God.