Writing in Snow

According to dictionary.com, speculation has six meanings; however, only four of those meaning relate to the title of this entry, or any following Sunday entries using this title. Those are (1) "the contemplation or consideration of some subject", (2) "a single instance or process of consideration", (3) "a conclusion or opinion reached by such contemplation", and (4) "conjectural consideration of a matter; conjecture or surmise".4

It is the last Saturday in January 2018, I review the things goals I have achieved, and the goals I have not achieved. I am on Part 48 of the series "God Speaks Again"6 by Kenneth E. Bowers. I am not going to look at the articles I have left to read because it will just stress me. When I get stressed I tend to procrastinate, which means I usually play online solitaire games of some type. Since I want to avoid those games (they waste time) I will not look ahead, but instead keep pushing on in an effort to finish this series in February.

On Sunday, January 21, I went to Devotional Services at the Baha'i Center in Las Vegas. The subject of this month's service was Spiritual Susceptibilities, the above quote was in the flyer, about the Sunday devotional, I received in my Cox inbox on January 17. In addition to the reading from the Baha'i scriptures there were readings from the Bible, Qur'an, Krishna, and Buddha. There were numerous Baha'is and non-Baha'is at this inspiring service.

Perhaps I should have titled this entry Frustrating Friday, because I'm waiting for someone to call back about and issue to an online account. The problem is that I wait for a call back, never get it, and than when I call the company they say the tech called but I didn't answer. If I had go t the call I would have answered; I can't answer a phone call I don't receive. Now that I have that out of my system, I will go ahead and plan or list the things I have to do between today and Saturday, January 27.

On the third Thankful Thursday of January 2018 I am grateful for The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, which was gifted to me several years ago. This beautiful translation of Baha'u'llah's tablets has became part of my spiritual diet this year. This isn't the first time I have began reading this book, but the other times I didn't finish it for numerous reasons. The reasons I stopped reading it don't make sense, so I think I was taking the wrong approach. This time, I'm reading the book in the evening as part of my evening prayer and meditation session.

Yesterday, I read an offsite blog entry about spiritual diet. The entry suggested that a spiritual diet consisted of more than just prayer and meditation, it also included scripture reading and avoiding those things that we know are wrong such as backbiting and judging other people. All though, I don't think that blog entry mentioned those two thing specifically. Anyway that blog entry got me to thinking about my spiritual diet, and I realized, that while I do read the scriptures, I haven't been reading a specific scripture book (which that entry suggested).

I've given serious thought to the way I'm making entries in this journal. Over the past few months I haven't been making daily entries, which is alright because I make those in "Melting Snow" . Another thing I haven't been doing is placing scriptures, with thoughts or meditations with them. I'm not sure why I stopped doing either of those, perhaps I just got lazy. I need to restart those actions, I, also, have to look closer that the goals I post on Monday's. When I posted the goals to "Weekly Goals" , I didn't put any review goals. I just posted those I placed in "Sunday Contemplations on Last Week's Accomplishments, ect." , which didn't contain anything about reviews. In addition, I didn't say anything about finishing my edition of the fantasy newsletter, and I have to do that this week, as well.

During the second week of January (January 7-13) 2018, I finished a poem in "Bicentenary Poems and Prose"  called "Baha'u'llah: Pen of God". Today I changed the name to "Baha'u'llah: Pen of Glory" . I started another poem in that book tentatively titled "Fear of God". I began a poem in "The History of the Divine Feminine"  with the working title "Maid of Heaven". In "My Life Is A Poem"  I finished the prose poem "Thunderbolt"  and began another called "Meditation on the Mission of the Bab". I submitted several poems to "The Daily Poem" , which are posted in "Snow Scribbles" . I submitted "Devotional Meetings"  to "Invalid Item"  and "I Write in 2018" . I finished "Icelandic Horse"  and submitted it to "Invalid Item"  . I still have to finish the submission for "Project Write World" .

Thinking about the components of happiness and contentment, I realize that gratitude is only one of the ingredients. True, gratitude constitutes a large element in happiness, but there are other ingredients that are just as important. Happiness is like an exquisite tasting bowl of homemade stew, all the ingredients combine to give it flavor.

Hope, faith, love, and sadness are four of the ingredients to happiness. I know many people do not think that sadness or sorrow contribute to happiness or contentment, because those two emotions appear to be anonymous. Yet there are many times in a person's life when these opposites reveal a period of joy just experienced, or precede a period of contentment. Therefore, I think, one should be grateful for the sorrow encountered, which is a part of living on the material or physical plane.

As I contemplate the events of 2017, consider the people in my life, and think about the ways I have expressed gratitude. I realize that I can do a better job of saying thank you to everyone who was in my life for passed through it. I do not have to say thank you in words, I can do it with a smile, a random act of kindness, or simply by listening to the other person's problems. While I may not be able to solve the problems, I can listen attentively.

Now that I new Gregorian year has begun, I think about the changes that have taken place in my life since I declared my belief in Baha'u'llah. Despite the difficulties I've encountered over the past several years, I've remained a member of the Baha'i Faith. I'm thankful for the changes in my opinions and point of view since declaring my faith. I'm thankful that I've remained a Baha'i. I'm thankful that I found out about Baha'u'llah when I did because I know without Him my life would be different today.

Knowledge of the value of life is another component of gratitude. I didn't realize this until I read "Flexing the Muscle of Gratitude within Our Families" by Deanne LaRue.10 In this article, Ms LaRue quoted a comment from another article she wrote. I had to stop, and think about this idea. After a few minutes, I realized that it is true because understanding the value of life is positive and energizing.

Faith in God, and in His Holiness Christ, was a part of my childhood. I was baptized into as a Southern Baptist when I was a child. Events in my life and some of the religious dogma came between me and the church, but I never stopped loving Christ. That is something else to be grateful for because, I believe, it helped me accept Baha'u'llah. I'm grateful for the religious instruction I received as a child. I'm grateful for everything that helped me discover Baha'u'llah, and accept Him as the promised one of all religions. As Christ Returned in the Father's Glory.

Upon waking each morning, I have a specific routine or morning ritual I go through. Part of that routine includes prayer, and chanting the Greatest Name11. Part of that routine has changed because I purchased a brace for my left leg, which helps keep down the swelling. I'm grateful that I was able to afford the brace because my insurance wouldn't pay for it. However, putting the brace on has disrupted the old routine, and I haven't quite gotten into the new one yet. I'll that down pat (excuse the cliche) by the end of January. Still it's pushing me to change the old habit, which I'm thankful for.

Last night, I changed my evening routine. Instead of saying the usually evening prayer, I said another prayer revealed by Baha'u'llah. It was a prayer for detachment, and it was longer then the evening prayer I usually read or recite. I'm thankful that I changed my evening routine because I noticed I need to be a bit more prepared fro my evening prayers. In this case, I have to turn out the kitchen light before I lay down in my recliner, if I don't than I interrupt the prayer and meditation by getting up to do it. I'm grateful for this lesson because it taught me something about making spiritual preparation for retiring at night.

Today, I read an article on BahaiTeaching.org12 by Liu Zhang titled "Difficulties and Faith: A Personal Journal about Becoming a Baha’i"13,which got me to thinking on my journey as a Baha'i. When I became a Baha'i, sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s, I accepted Baha'u'llah because my intuition, gut feeling, told me this was the religion I had been looking for, for a long time. When I read the scriptures and prayers revealed by Baha'u'llah, I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. In addition, two dream I had in my younger years prepared me for finding Baha'u'llah and the Baha'i Faith.

On the first Sunday in 2018, I look back over the past week. I consider my accomplishment since Sunday, December 31, 2017, and realize that I have accomplished a great deal. I did not finish any of the goals I established, however, I did work on most for a little bit over the week. I will attempt to do better this week by working on some of the goals I neglected last week. All I can do is to continue the effort as the week and months move forward. Sometimes I will fall short and sometimes I will exceed the goal, as long as I continue working and striving success lays in the future.

I started the Dear Me letter a couple of days ago. I wrote the first draft by hand, and then put the second draft in a word document on One Drive. I haven't printed it off to read it, I will do that this afternoon. Yesterday, I determined some of the items I need to edit or rewrite, and I placed those in "Items to Rewrite and/or Edit" . I have one poem I started last year that I didn't finish. That poem is in "My Life Is A Poem"  "Thunderbolt" , which is set to private. It's a prose poem, so I only have four paragraphs to finish. In that poem, I'm experimenting with the form which is a combination of prose and acrostic.

What would I like my life to be like?16 I contemplate this question, as I considered my 2018 Dear Me letter. I didn't write a Dear Me letter in 2017, however, this year is different. This year is different for several reason. First, I am 71 years young, and I have to face the possibility that I may not have very many years left on the physical plane. Eventually, my physical body will die, and my soul will transcend into the next world. This means that I have to accomplish some of my dreams while I am (my soul) is still in this physical body. It means I have to overcome the fear that haunts me and stops me from doing my best to proclaim Baha'u'llah's name and accomplish my dream of becoming a published author.

A new Gregorian year has begun, and I have an urge to play a game of solitaire. This is an urge I cannot give into today, because it will interfere with the today's writing and article reading. I did a good job of ignoring the urge yesterday, and, in addition, I was able to ignore the urge to fantasize. I'm having difficulty with with today as well. I know I shouldn't attempt to break two bad habits at the same time. The thing is, the more I focus on writing the less I am tempted to play solitaire or fantasize.