On the Personal Stories of Real Baha'is: A Story from Katherine

Image: Being "a brilliant star", one interpretation

Excerpts from Katherine have graced these pages before. Here is some of her recent personal reflections.

I wasn't raised as a Baha'i. As a newly-declared 15 year old, I deepened myself in my spiritual mother's basement by reading years of back-issues of Brilliant Star, because none of the youth classes were covering the basics. In my rush to catch up, I was constantly in a hurry to read more, to learn more stuff, because then people would accept me as a real Baha'i. As I got older, I felt that the standard of acceptance was to be more involved, to do more stuff, and so I taught children's classes, served on committees, planned conferences and retreats and helped with unit conventions. Then there was this Institute process to think about, and I got trained in Core Curriculum and became a Ruhi facilitator and pushed myself to get through the sequence of courses.

It's been good. I'm glad I did it all. I'll keep doing most of that, too.

But allow me a moment to reflect on the needs of my own soul.

"One hour of reflection is preferable to seventy years of pious worship." -Tablets of Baha'u'llah

I need Baha'u'llah back, not as the focus of my thoughts, which He has been, not as the driving force behind my actions, which I try to make Him,

but as the Love of my life.

Katherine, "I Prayed for Changes," A Thousand Paper Craniums