I'm back to reading the Seven Valleys, after finally finishing Summons of the Lord of Hosts (this is for my daily readings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh). It's always kind of been the Scripture that makes the most sense to me - with the greatest potential of application to my own life.
So when Charlotte accepted my offer to do a little theatrical activity for her 9-10-year-old class at Bahá'í Sunday school, I decided to have them (6-7 girls) do skits about "seeing the end in the beginning". This has always been one of my favorite spiritual concepts to contemplate (followed of course by contemplations of "see neither beginning nor end, and witness neither "first" nor "last." Nay rather... see not even 'neither first nor last'"). And they all did so well!!
Later today I was thinking about one of my recurring complaints about life: I don't receive enough tests and trials. I remember thinking this back in high school, and only the year I moved to the US was really overwhelmingly trying. In the Valley of Unity, the believer/seeker recognizes all things as shining with a brightness from a single source - all of Creation and all things beyond have no noteworthy distinction: they all reflect the light of God to their respective potential degree (as a red globe will shine red, a crystal will make like a fire, a mirror will show the whole 'disk' of the sun, and simple objects will have colors according to their nature). This helped me further embrace my life condition (I've been gradually coming to terms with not recognizing direct answers to my prayers for afflictions) by acknowledging that blessings and tests are one and the same: opportunities to come closer to the presence of my God.
Never Too Much
-
I was too much for many spaces, for too many years.I find it so interesting
that in the last 4.5 years since being fully self-employed, I have never
once b...
5 weeks ago
2 comments:
May I just say, simply, that this is a completely beautiful post. Thank you.
Thank you for your comment, Andrew - I have come much further along in my study of the Seven Valleys since I first posted this. I had a major trial a couple of days ago, which was set-up by study of the Seven Valleys, multiple prayers for hardship, and chanting the Long Healing prayer. I'm also looking more into my dreams, which might help eventually in bringing me closer to the Valley of Wonderment...
Post a Comment