Writing in Snow

My morning began on a good note. The first thing I saw when I logged in was this week's spiritual newsletter, "The Gift of Religious Pluralism," "Spiritual Newsletter (May 30, 2018)" . This newsletter introduced me to Progressive Christianity, which I did not know existed. The editor, Sophy explained some of the beliefs of Progressive Christianity. She ask the question, "How has your spiritual journey been enhanced by exploring a tradition outside of your own?" I submitted a two paragraph answer to the question.

One hundred twenty-six years ago, an May 29, 1892 at 3:00 A.M., Baha'u'llah ascended into the Abha paradise. His physical presence no longer blessed this world, and ocean of His words was silenced. His spiritual presence was and is still felt by Baha'is across the planet. Across the planet, in every city and nation, Baha'is are proclaiming Baha'u'llah, the Glory of God, through their actions and their buildings. Everywhere local Baha'i houses of worship, and Baha'i Centers are being built. They welcome every individual, no matter the religious, national, or other affiliations.

A good start to the workweek of May 28. I wrote a poem in response to the "Blogging Circle of Friends "  prompt called "Awed by Universe's Creation" . I posted a link on my Facebook page. I haven't responded to the "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise"  prompt yet, but I'll do that later this morning. That prompt asks about my opinion of Memorial Day, so before I write it I'll do some reviews of Memorial Day items. I'm a little sad right now, and I don't want to cry while I'm writing that entry.

I'm cleaning out my desk drawers, and going through hard copies of poems I wrote over the past few decades. One of the poem's I rediscovered is titled "The Poem I Can't Write." Rereading the poem got me to thinking about forgiveness, and the difficulty, we human beings have, of forgiving. I've known for sometime that there is, at least, one person I've had difficulty forgiving.

I've always imagined my soul as a butterfly transforming in the chrysalis if matter; however, a butterfly is a physical creature of earth; its transformation a metaphor for the soul of a human being. I don't know what elements from the spiritual realm will compose my spiritual body. I can only hope that some of it is a form of spiritual light. There was a time, before becoming a Baha'i that I had a fear of death. I no longer fear death because I know my soul is eternal. My worry (or perhaps apprehension is a better word) now is to determine what I have made of my life, and how what my actions reveal about the way I've lived. The only thing I can do now is attempt to make each day better, while asking forgiveness for falling short.

Perhaps I should have titled this entry Planning the Poem: Part 3, because that is what I'm doing. I thought I have the poem planned and ready to begin the middle seven stanzas, but I was wrong. This morning I read an article by Edward Price, on BahaiTeachings.org14, titled "Reflections on the Declaration of the Bab"15. That article listed the six messengers of the Prophetic Cycle as Adam, Noah, Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, and the Bab, who bridges the Prophetic Cycle and the Cycle of Fulfillment. It went on to list the Bab and Baha'u'llah under the Cycle of Fulfillment. In the poem "God's Religion" I'm going to put stanzas about Adam, Noah, Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, the Bab, and Baha'u'llah. I will use Abraham, Krishna, and Buddha in another poem about progressive revelation.

Yesterday, 5 ‘Aẓamat, I began a poem titled God's Religion. I have the first stanza, which expresses the basic unity of religion, written. In that stanza I suggested that the reason the Almighty send divine messengers was the reawakening of humanity. I didn't put the education of the human soul so that it can ascend to "the throne of the Most High", which is what happens when the soul is awakened. I'm not going to rewrite the stanza, instead I'll write another stanza, and decide later which stanza to use for the poem's prologue and epilogue.

Do I need more motivation at the beginning of the week than at the end? If that is the case, then I have received a triple dose of motivation this week. On Sunday, I went to the monthly Devotional Services at the Baha'i Center in Las Vegas. The theme (I felt) for the May Devotional was the Holy Spirit reflected through the Divine Manifestations sent by the Almighty. Some of the sacred readings were from the Baha'i scriptures, the Holy Qur'an, and the Holy Bible. One of the phrases used by the speaker, who discussed the concept of progressive revelation was "God's Religion". Last night, before going to sleep, I began a poem using that title.

I was raised in Blackwell, Oklahoma, in a Southern Baptist family. On Sunday, I went to Sunday School at either the First Southern Baptist Mission in the Smelter Heights, or the First Southern Baptist Church uptown. It was at the Mission (My family always called the little church in the Smelter Heights the Mission.) that I accepted Christ as my personal savior, but it was at the Big Church uptown that I was baptist. At that time, I knew of only one sacred book, the Holy Bible, which (I was told.) combined both Jewish and Christian scriptures.

Work is worship, so where do I begin today. I've already begun with the second bedroom, which isn't a bedroom but a storage or catchall room. I begin by straightening the objects on the bed. The next thing to do is to sort, hangup, or put some of the clothes away or in the laundry basket. Since I have difficulty standing for long periods of time without my walker, and the walker gets in the way of dong the work in the bedroom, I have to do it a little at a time.

The world is slowing moving toward gender equality and world peace. This is a process that was set into motion when the Bab declared His mission in May of 1844. I speed increased in April of 1863 when Baha'u'llah declared His mission. In 1870, Julie Ward Howe suggested a "Mother's Day for Peace", which was briefly celebrated in 1873.31 I don't know why that celebration fizzled out, perhaps it wasn't yet time for women, for mothers, to arise and refuse to send their children off to war. Today gender equality is coming closer, women have more say in the affairs of government and policy making, and that their power is increasing. This means that World Peace is on the horizon.

It's been a good week. I accomplished a number of things on my Goal List, and I procrastinated on a few things that I need to finish this weekend. I write several poems including "The Bab"  and "Baha'u'llah" . I also want to write a Deliberate Design poem, but am having trouble coming up with a subject. I could be overthinking, I'll pray about that before I go to bed tonight. I have better luck with things like this when I pray about it before going to bed. I need to rewrite my goals for next week today, and do some reviewing. I'm not doing any reviews on the Read & Review today, instead I'm checking the Browse by Genre for items to review.

On November 29, 2012, my mother transcended into the Abha Kingdom. This Mother's Day, Sunday, May 13, 2018, will be my sixth Mother's Day without her. I miss her. I miss her smile. I miss going out with her to eat on Mother's Day. I miss hearing her chant the Most Great Name each morning. I still have her pink prayer beads and her rose decorated pill box on my desk. I thought about taking her prayer beads to the Baha'i Center and giving them to a new Baha'i, and I still may do that; I'm just not sure if I'm ready yet.

The title of "Spiritual Newsletter (May 9, 2018)"  is "In Gratitude". In it the editor Shannon ask three questions: (1) How have you been blessed? (2) Do you keep a gratitude journal? and What are you thankful for? Today, May 10, I can answer the "How have you been blessed?" question easily enough because I have, at least, nine blessing to list. I know I usually list ten blessing, however, some of those blessing are repeats from week to week, and today I want to list new blessings or blessing I do not list often.