We are given opportunity in this world. It is important that we not drop the ball. When we hear that God has given us a whole new revelation to guide us in this day, we need to step up, respond, and run with the ball. But we got to share the ball, too, execute the handoff. Teach. Give it up for the Cause. Say our prayers. The ball with come back. Again and again it will come back, as we keep handing it off.
Hey, the guy who had the ball when the count reached 50 in this drill at the Tacoma Invaders practice last week was none other than our own Coach Matt. Matt didn't drop the ball. Yesterday afternoon at our Naw Ruz brunch he registered as a Baha'i along with his wife Christy. -gw
Tribal is fashionable. To be one tribal is high fashion, the penultimate. -gw
At a Baha'i Holy Day a few years ago at Lisa's
One tribe, one tribe One tribe, one time, one planet, one [race] Race, one love, one people, one [and] Too many things that's causing one [to] Forget about the main cause Connecting, uniting But the evil is seen and alive in us So our hopes are colliding And our peace is sinking like Poseidon But, we know that the one [one] The evil one is threatened by the sum [sum] So he'll come and try and separate the sum But he dumb, he didn't know we had a way to overcome Rejuvenated by the beating of the drum Come together by the cycle of the hum Freedom when all become one [one] Forever
Bonita's devil looks like Oscar on Sesame Street. When garbage comes up in her mind, she attributes it to him. In narrative therapy, that's known as externalizing the problem. "What does Bonita want?" "What does Oscar want?" Bonita and Oscar want two different outcomes.
Here is a Hidden Word you don't see quoted very much. The image at the heart of it -- of wings -- is good for doing battle against the vilest whisperings of our lower self. -gw
SON OF DESIRE! How long wilt thou soar in the realms of desire? Wings have I bestowed upon thee, that thou mayest fly to the realms of mystic holiness and not the regions of satanicfancy. The comb, too, have I given thee that thou mayest dress My raven locks, and not lacerate My throat.
O Thou kind Lord! Thou hast created all humanity from the same stock. Thou hast decreed that all shall belong to the same household. In Thy Holy Presence they are all Thy servants, and all mankind are sheltered beneath Thy Tabernacle; all have gathered together at Thy Table of Bounty; all are illumined through the light of Thy Providence.
O God! Thou art kind to all, Thou hast provided for all, dost shelter all, conferrest life upon all. Thou hast endowed each and all with talents and faculties, and all are submerged in the Ocean of Thy Mercy.
O Thou kind Lord! Unite all. Let the religions agree and make the nations one, so that they may see each other as one family and the whole earth as one home. May they all live together in perfect harmony.
O God! Raise aloft the banner of the oneness of mankind.
O God! Establish the Most Great Peace.
Cement Thou, O God, the hearts together.
O Thou kind Father, God! Gladden our hearts through the fragrance of Thy love. Brighten our eyes through the Light of Thy Guidance. Delight our ears with the melody of Thy Word, and shelter us all in the Stronghold of Thy Providence.
Thou art the Mighty and Powerful, Thou art the Forgiving and Thou art the One Who overlooketh the shortcomings of all mankind.
Terri wanted to know the words to the song Gwen and Jardana sung at the Tigers-Invaders junior youth group Sunday. So she had Eliza write out the words, so she could take them home. -gw
There were quite a few surprises to our hike at the North Kitsap Heritage park yesterday. There was some zig-zag uphill to it, enormous cedar stumps, a derelict car on the trail, and stretches that were so dark we imagined bears hiding along the way. -gw
O Shaykh! Peruse that which Isaiah hath spoken in His Book. He saith: “Get thee up into the high mountain, O Zion, that bringest good tidings; lift up Thy Voice with strength, O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings. Lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah: ‘Behold your God! Behold the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him.’” This Day all the signs have appeared. A Great City hath descended from heaven, and Zion trembleth and exulteth with joy at the Revelation of God, for it hath heard the Voice of God on every side. This Day Jerusalem hath attained unto a new Evangel, for in the stead of the sycamore standeth the cedar. Jerusalem is the place of pilgrimage for all the peoples of the world, and hath been named the Holy City. Together with Zion and Palestine, they are all included within these regions.
With the coming of spring almost around the corner Bonita and I are looking forward to once again connecting with our friends at the Franklin Park community garden where we have two large plots.
The third most viewed photo on the Baha'i Views / Flitzy Phoebie account
The fellowship within this social space gives us many opportunities for spiritual conversations. Bonita has become friends with a gay couple, a retired couple, an elderly Japanese gardener, several college students, immigrants from Estonia, and people in all walks of life. The collaborative work of the gardeners includes growing food for local food banks in addition to serving their personal needs. There is constant sharing of ideas that impacts garden layouts from year to year which results in increased productivity.
Soon I will condition the berms, work in fertilizer and mulch, and Bonita will determine which plants to grow for meals throughout the summer.
Some of her cooking projects using the bountiful produce from our garden are featured in our Flickr account here, and here. -gw
In reality thou art spiritually hungry and athirst for the Water of Life. Therefore I send thee spiritualfood and bestow upon thee the Water of Life Eternal. That food is the divine advices and exhortations revealed in the Tablets and the spiritual outpourings of the Breath of the Holy Spirit. I hope ere long it will reach thee and thou wilt behold what an exhilaration and beatitude it produceth and what cheerfulness and serenity and what heavenly emotions it createth!”
Say: "Naught is seen in my temple but the Temple of God, and in my beauty but His Beauty, and in my being but His Being, and in myself but Himself, and in my movement but His Movement, and in my acquiescence but His Acquiescence, and in my pen but His Pen, the Precious, the Extolled." ...
Borders are ... Serj's take. His YouTube video has been viewed 1,246,274 times. -gw
The Great Being, wishing to reveal the prerequisites of the peace and tranquillity of the world and the advancement of its peoples, hath written: The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally realized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of the world’s Great Peace amongst men. Such a peace demandeth that the Great Powers should resolve, for the sake of the tranquillity of the peoples of the earth, to be fully reconciled among themselves. Should any king take up arms against another, all should unitedly arise and prevent him. If this be done, the nations of the world will no longer require any armaments, except for the purpose of preserving the security of their realms and of maintaining internal order within their territories. This will ensure the peace and composure of every people, government and nation. We fain would hope that the kings and rulers of the earth, the mirrors of the gracious and almighty name of God, may attain unto this station, and shield mankind from the onslaught of tyranny. …The day is approaching when all the peoples of the world will have adopted one universal language and one common script. When this is achieved, to whatsoever city a man may journey, it shall be as if he were entering his own home. These things are obligatory and absolutely essential. It is incumbent upon every man of insight and understanding to strive to translate that which hath been written into reality and action…. That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race. The Great Being saith: Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth. In another passage He hath proclaimed: It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.
Today on International Women's Day, Amnesty International makes a public statement calling on "the Iranian authorities to release immediately all women detained arbitrarily in Iran, including political activists, rights defenders and members of religious and ethnic minorities."
Today is the day. -gw
Washington Post (blog) - 1 hour ago
By Maura Judkis Happy International Women's Day! In case you missed the Google Doodle, today's the day to celebrate women's accomplishment
It's the youth -- youth in high school or just out of it -- we can turn to to take us to the next level. Let's face it. Young adults in college, and people who are working and raising their families, often don't have the time it takes to do the work necessary to engage our neighborhoods in the kind of activities that can bring the multitudes of suffering souls in this world back from the brink of despair. -gw
I am studying new music again, daily. Get CDs from the library on the weekend and listen on my way to and from work Monday through Friday. An hour a day each way – that’s 10 hours of listening a week, more than enough to stir my soul, if music is a ladder to the soul, as the Baha’i Writings assert. My latest discovery – Meat Puppets. Oh Me, oh my. -gw
For years after I started Baha’i Views I used to spend my discretionary time sitting at the Google portal perusing blog entries with the keyword “Baha’i.” My blog descriptor still reads “Pithy excerpts, personal learning, and mentions of ‘Baha'i’ online” for the original version on Blogger. The reality is I don’t do much looking for mentions of Baha’i online anymore. Too busy with the institute process. “When the most important work is at hand, let go of the important work,” the saying goes, one that I attribute to Abdu’l-Baha. And so the descriptor on the more recent Posterous version of Baha’i Views reads: “Pithy excerpts, personal learnings, and the institute process.” That’s more accurate now. I devote a good portion of my current postings to, for example, the activities of junior youth spending time together on a Sunday afternoon. What they are doing in the neighborhood is historic, in my view.
This morning I used Google to again search blogs for "Baha’i." The results seemed so familiar: On page one of my search results there’s arthra on Religious Forums. A posting by Farhad. A posting on Baha’i and the environment on a site about Islam, also referenced on Baha.us. There is a post by a critic of the Faith I once met some 43 years ago -- still consumed after all these years. And there are posts by Baha’i bloggers on the fast, including my own entries. And finally a post on a foreign policy site on the future of the Baha’i Faith in Egypt.
The Internet is like a friend. Follow the progress of the Junior Youth group meeting at Miss Lisa’s each week AND the growth of the stature of the work of Baha'is throughout the world with just a few clicks. –gw
For Baha'is, 95 is a nice round number. That's the number of children's classes and juniior youth spiritual empowerment groups we aim to have raised up in our cluster by the end of the Five Year Plan. We're making a push for it ... now. Next six months is going to be amazing around here. -gw
We are now accepting videos from Baha'is around the world:
A teaser promo for the project 'Fast in a Day', a video portrait of Bahá'í fasting around the world. For more information about the film and how to upload your videos visit: www.bit.ly/mediamakesus
-- Afshin
Life during the days of the fast are more vivid and memorable. And they go ... fast. Afsin invites us to share our experiences.
I said prayers the afternoon of the first day of the Baha'i fast sitting by the bay in Port Orchard, looking across the water at flocks of wintering over American widgeons with the Bremerton Naval Shipyard in the background. -gw
I thought of System of a Down's song "Sad Statue" when reflecting on the comments of Senator Snow, retiring from Congress because of its extreme partisanship. -gw
The colors of wintertime in the Pacific Northwest are gray (or grey) and green and black -- and white if we are lucky enough to experience a little snow cover. The Saturday we spent in the forest above the Skookumchuck River we saw plenty of grey and green. The Sunday we spent along the Carbon River just inside Mt Rainier National Park we experienced the full rainbow of Pac NW colors --- grey, green, black and white. Wow! A feast for the eyes. -gw
... the Sun seems to be going away, until at last the mantle of winter overspreads, and only faint traces of the effulgence of that divine Sun remain.
