On the Glow of Ridvan: And afterglow
"Leuven @ Night - Image 14" www.bazpics.com on flickrFrom: C. SchwartzSubject: The secret bloom of Ridvan
Allah-u-abha everyone,I've written the following post on my blog to commemorate the "hidden" side of Ridvan: http://schwartztronica.wordpress.com/2010/05/07/the-secret-bloom-of-riḍvan/Cheers!
...the gestures were faceless, in the form of the Flemish Government offering me an incredible scholarship to stay next year and continue my studies here at Leuven. The Belgian taxpayer has now not only allowed me to attend her best university at her expense, but she is now paying me to do it, too, and never once asking for anything in return.
When I think about some of the very negative things I have often said about Belgium since arriving last semester, I am ashamed and humbled. I was speaking out of emotional frustration, yes, but I was still wrong. I am reminded of the words of Baha’u'llah:
“O Emigrants! The tongue I have designed for the mention of Me, defile it not with detraction. If the fire of self overcome you, remember your own faults and not the faults of My creatures, inasmuch as every one of you knoweth his own self better than he knoweth others. “
Indeed, I was overcome by the fire of self. And yet somehow the hidden tenderness of the cosmos has looked through the blaze of that self, to the frail and often foolish ember within it, and rather than punish it by heaping upon more coals for the flames to burn, this great agapeia has chosen to douse the fire with the soft rain of abundancy and mercy.
No comments:
Post a Comment