People of all cultures have built temples and shrines to pay tribute to their beloved deities in order to console their souls and hearts. People of all cultures continue to give alms to religious institutions for moral and spiritual continuity. Many of the external manifestations of piety and morality are personal, or culture-based.
But perhaps there are temples and shrines of love hidden in our hearts which no one can see or know about. These temples hold vulnerable mothers who beg to feed their hungry children. They are lined with sick children who need medical help. They contain families who cannot send their children to school. They are for frail individuals who are the casualties of life. These temples are refuge places for the vulnerable.
If you light a candle in your temple, they will come. The inhabitants of these inner temples are drawn to illuminating candles so they can regain their integrity and find their path in life. One, two, ten, or many, will be walking towards your temple if they see light within. These pilgrimages of mothers, children and vulnerable ones coming to our inner temples of love bring us all under one cover, the religion of love.
The House of Flowers is a small microcosm of Afghanistan’s multi-ethnic and multi-denominational circle, where orphans of all backgrounds are brought together to grow, to play, to learn and to love each other. It has been a successful experiment of the heart. And those individuals who have made the running of this house possible for the last ten years have helped manifest a real, external ‘temple of love’ in addition to their inner temples for a pilgrimage of love. Let us keep the candles burning in this temple of love as we expand our hope that more people will join us.
In hard times, the House of Flowers is a refuge place for the donors as well as the orphans. Whenever we get depressed and are mentally despairing, we should look into our inner temple to see if the candles of hope are still burning. For every person we help there will be one more candle lit in our heart.
