Aligning with the Will of God
The true worshipper, while praying, should endeavour not so much to ask God to fulfill his wishes and desires, but rather to adjust these and make them conform to the Divine Will. Only through such an attitude can one derive that feeling of inner peace and contentment...
read moreFeeling Hurt
We must never dwell too much on the attitudes and feelings of our fellow-believers towards us. What is most important is to foster love and harmony and ignore any rebuffs we may receive; in this way the weakness of human nature and any peculiarity or attitude of any...
read moreAccepting Invitations
Whensoever ye be invited to a banquet or festive occasion, respond with joy and gladness, and whoever fulfilleth his promise will be safe from reproof. (Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas 156, p. 75) I used to think that this quote meant that I needed to accept and attend...
read moreWays to Combat Stress
. . . in view of these passages, you may wish to focus some of your reading and meditations on the lives and sufferings of the Central Figures of the Faith. Similarly, we are assured by the Guardian that the Tablet of Ahmad, the Healing Prayer and the Fire Tablet...
read moreImpatience and Frustration
While there are opportunities for greater growth than is occurring, neither your Assembly nor the friends must burden themselves with feelings of failure at every disappointment, for such feelings are self-fulfilling and can easily cause stagnation in the...
read moreAvoiding Denial
Please God, that we avoid the land of denial, and advance into the ocean of acceptance, so that we may perceive, with an eye purged from all conflicting elements, the worlds of unity and diversity, of variation and oneness, of limitation and detachment, and wing our...
read morePerfectionism
. . . to be free of one's ego is a hallmark of perfection. We humans are never going to become perfect, for perfection belongs to a realm we are not destined to enter. However, we must constantly mount higher, seek to be more perfect . . . perfection will never be...
read moreDepression
Be not in despair, but rather smile by the mercy of thy Lord; and be not sorrowful when meeting with worldly difficulties and depressions, for they pass away - and thine shall be immortality during ages and centuries, times and cycles. ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Tablets of...
read moreOur True Life
Nearness to Thee is the true life of them who are Thy lovers. (Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 77) I often wondered why “to know and worship God” is why we were created, and therefore it was our sole purpose in life. I always wanted my life...
read morePromoting Health
But man hath perversely continued to serve his lustful appetites, and he would not content himself with simple foods. Rather, he prepared for himself food that was compounded of many ingredients, of substances differing one from the other. With this, and with the...
read moreKnowing Myself
O My servants! Could ye apprehend with what wonders of My munificence and bounty I have willed to entrust your souls, ye would, of a truth, rid yourselves of attachment to all created things, and would gain a true knowledge of your own selves . . . (Bahá'u'lláh,...
read moreThe Words We Speak
Verily I say, the tongue is for mentioning what is good, defile it not with unseemly talk. God hath forgiven what is past. Henceforward everyone should utter that which is meet and seemly, and should refrain from slander, abuse and whatever causeth sadness in men. ...
read morePatience
We must not only be patient with others, infinitely patient, but also with our own poor selves, remembering that even the Prophets of God sometimes got tired and cried out in despair! (Shoghi Effendi, Unfolding Destiny, p. 456) I love this quote! As someone who...
read moreThe Purpose of Tests
The Guardian urges you not to be discouraged by any set-backs you may have. Life is a process of trials and testings, and these are - contrary to what we are prone to thinking - good for us and give us stamina, and teach us to rely on God. (Shoghi Effendi, Unfolding...
read more