This blog contains responses to blog prompts, & thoughts on spiritual or religious themes |
Disclaimer: Any views, about religion or sacred scriptures, expressed in this blog are my own and not the official views of the Baha'i Faith or any other religion. If you wish to know more about the Baha'i Faith, please check one of these websites: The Baha'i Faith: The Official Website of the Worldwide Baha'i Community or Baha'is of the United States . "The gift of God to this enlightened age is the knowledge of the oneness of mankind and of the fundamental oneness of religion. War shall cease between nations, and by the will of God the Most Great Peace shall come; the world will be seen as a new world, and all men will live as brothers." Abdu'l-Baha1 Other Blogs and Journals Content Rating 18+ "Writing in Snow" "The Snowflake Chronicles" "Snow Melt" "More Snow Melt" "Welcome to My Life" "Melting Snow" "Memories of Snow" "Dreams of Snow " "Poem Experiments" "Devotional Poetry" Other Journals Content Rating ASR "Bicentenary Poems and Prose" "Treasures lie hidden beneath the throne of God; the key to those treasures if the tongue of poets." The Bab "O my God! O my God! Unite the hearts of Thy servants, and reveal to them Thy great purpose. May they follow Thy commandments and abide in Thy law. Help them, O God, in their endeavor, and grant them strength to serve Thee. O God! Leave them not to themselves, but guide their steps by the light of Thy knowledge, and cheer their hearts by Thy love. Verily, Thou art their Helper and their Lord." Bahá’u’lláh2 Footnotes |
Jalál (Glory), 17 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Saturday, June 20, 2020 The "Blogging Circle of Friends " prompt for DAY 2773: June 20, 2020, is "What is your favorite summer treat?" On the longest day of the year, when triple digit temperatures we fear, a cool treat is what we all cheer. On midsummer day some people scream for ice cream, while other people yell for snow cones; I will scream for chocolate ice cream or yell for a grape snow cone. Summer solstice is the best time to consume an ice cream cone, a snow cones, or a tall cold cup of cafe mocha. Day 20 entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" . |
Istiqlál (Independence), 16 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Friday, June 19, 2020 Day 19 entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" . On June 19, 1865, federal troops enter Galveston, Texas, to make sure that all the slaves in America were freed. This was two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation3 was signed. It was on Juneteenth (June 19, 1865) that U.S. General Gordon Granger read General Order No. 3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”4 This day should be a national holiday, that is celebrated with parades, fireworks, picnics, and education about the effects of slaver, which America is still dealing with today. Footnotes |
Istijlál (Majesty), 15 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Thursday, June 18, 2020 There are a couple of pieces of good news on this Thankful Thursday, June 18, 2020. The first piece of good newx concerns two Baha'i Temples in Africa: In Africa: As one temple rises, anticipation builds for another . Second, Supreme Court blocks Trump’s bid to end DACA, a win for undocumented ‘Dreamers’ by Robert Barnes. Good news is always welcome because it reveals that the world is making progress, moving toward a new normal of unity, justice, and world peace. Get rid of negativity by finding good news that creates positive thoughts and feelings. Day 18 entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" . |
ʻIdál (Justice), 14 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Wednesday, June 17, 2020 Day 17 entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" . Four days to Father's Day and counting down. Every where you look on the internet or in the stores (if you go out of the house to go shopping) you find ads for the perfect Father's Day gift. When I was growing up the perfect Father's Day gift was a tie or a fishing rod, depending on what Dad did for a living or liked to do on the weekends. I don't remember any of my school friends asking me what are you getting your grandfather for Father's Day. Most of my friends knew that my parents were divorced, that my mother was the breadwinner in the family, and that the only Father figure I had was Grandpa Frank. I wasn't the only child in my school who's parents were divorced. I had one friend without a Father in the house and whose mother worked as a waitress. Most of my other friends lived in two parent households with fathers going off to work five days a week, and mothers who remain home as housewives. I don't know if they were any happier than we were. I do know they had fewer financial problems, or at least they appeared to hove fewer. The older I get the more I suspect they had just as many financial problems, and their parents probably argued over money and other stuff. At least there were no arguments between adults in my one parent household. I did have a stepfather, but that is an entirely different story, which I'm not going to go into here. |
Fiḍál (Grace), 13 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Tuesday, June 16, 2020 The "Invalid Item" discussion topic for the week of June 14, 2020 is "Let's start with something easy! How are you coping with 2020? Are you watching a lot of news? Distracting yourself with other things? Hiding under the blankets? How are you feeling about everything? Aside from everything going on in the world, how are YOU doing? What's going on in your personal bubble? How many years long has 2020 felt so far? " How am I coping with 2020? Not easily. The first part of the year was alright. I had only a couple of issues with the lock-down: (1) The inability to get a hair cur, and (2) I couldn't pick up senior commodities for a while. Now that most places are starting to open up, I'm beginning to have difficulties that I didn't before. I think or hope that will clear up soon. Sometimes it feels like I'm in a well, about 30 ft. from the center of hell. I was able to pickup senior commodities and get my haircut in May. Social distancing is still in effect, but that is slowly being lifted. I catch the news, I want to catch, online. I listen to music online. I read articles online, I talk to my sister on the phone at least once a month. This month she dropped by my house to get me to print something off the DMV website. It was nice seeing her. I've had difficulty focusing for a couple of three weeks, that's slowing going away. I'm back to doing survey. I purchased a new recliner with the stimulus funds. I think my life is slowly working towards a new normal. Day 16 entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" . |
Kamál (Perfection), 12 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Monday, June 15, 2020 Day 15 entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" . It's Motivational Monday, June 15, the day a new blog group begins. The name of the group is "Space Blog Group" , the forum is located at "Space Blog" , and the first prompt is "Name ten things you would put on your bucket." It should be easy to write a bucket list because I wrote (or think I wrote) one before. I can't find the bucket list I wrote. The only thing I can find is a poem I wrote in 2013, "Bucket Lists: Two Related Poems" , a few months after my mother died in 2012. The name of the new blog is "Snow's Space Blog" , and the first entry is "Ten Things on My Bucket List" . My Computer Desk I look at my computer desk, I contemplate the task of cleaning it off-- knowing this is something I can no longer put off. Where do I begin? Do I begin on the right or the left side? Do I begin with the top of the printer or in front of the printer? |
Jamál (Beauty), 11 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Sunday, June 14, 2020 Race Amity Day It's time for America America's strength is in its diversity and not its conformity. I, as a white woman, have to weed the garden of my soul. I have to remove the thorns and thistles that White Privilege5 has planted there since the day of my birth. I look at the history of my country and realize that, since the inception of America, the only lives that mattered were white male lives; that black, brown, yellow, red, and female lives didn't matter. Day 14 entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" . Footnotes |
Jalál (Glory), 10 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Saturday, June 13, 2020 Day 13 entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" . The Day 2766 prompt for "Blogging Circle of Friends " is Write about your relationship with food. My relationship with food is a love, love relationship. I love food and food loves me. I will try almost any type of ethnic food once, and if I don't like it the first time, I will presume it's an acquired taste and attempt to acquire a taste for it. Sometimes I dream of death by chocolate cake with a scoop of chocolate ice cream. Chocolate isn't my only favorite food. I enjoy any food item I eat. Today, June 13, I'm enjoying reviewing food items on writing.com. Below are a couple of items I've reviewed so far.
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Istiqlál (Independence), 9 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Friday, June 12, 2020 Sometimes I have difficulty deciding on my favorite quote, because there are so many quotes from the Sacred Writings of The Bab, Baha'u'llah, and 'Abdu'l-Baha that I like. Today I didn't have any problems deciding on my favorite quotes for this month. When I logged into Facebook, the first quote was posted with a picture, containing the Spanish translation, and the English translation above the picture. After reading and meditating on the first quote, I thought of another quote. The second quote I had to look up on Baha'i Reference Library . Both quotes can be found in Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah. “Know thou of a truth that the worlds of God are countless in their number, and infinite in their range. None can reckon or comprehend them except God, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.” Bahá'u'lláh6 "Know thou that every fixed star hath its own planets, and every planet its own creatures, whose number no man can compute." Bahá’u’lláh78 Day 12 entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" . Footnotes |
Istijlál (Majesty), 8 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Thursday, June 11, 2020 Day 11 entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" . It's Thankful Thursday! It's time to make a gratitude list of everything I have to be thankful for. What am I thankful for today, June 11, 2020? One thing I'm thankful for is that I'm almost through another episode of "the dark night of my soul", and can see a distant light breaking on the horizon. An episode of "the dark night of my soul" can be brought on by almost anything. I'm not sure what brought on this episode. I'm past the wanting to cry mood, and I've started to see the light filtering through the dark clouds of despair. I am thankful that my sister came to visit me yesterday, June 10. We had a nice talk and I printed off something for her from the DMV. Sometimes I wish we were closer, but I'm not sure that is going to happen. I'm not going to move to Searchlight and I doubt she'll move to Las Vegas, so the only thing I can do is pray for her. Footnotes |
ʻIdál (Justice), 7 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Wednesday, June 10, 2020 "...The Great Being saith: The Tongue of Wisdom proclaimeth: He that hath Me not is bereft of all things. Turn ye away from all that is on earth and seek none else but Me. I am the Sun of Wisdom and the Ocean of Knowledge. I cheer the faint and revive the dead. I am the guiding Light that illumineth the way. I am the royal Falcon on the arm of the Almighty. I unfold the drooping wings of every broken bird and start it on its flight." A Facebook Memory: I wrote this poem about Baha'u'llah in 2019 He is the Royal Falcon My soul is a broken winged bird The Glory of God heals my drooping wings I forgot about this poem until today. I logged onto Facebook and there is was as one of my Facebook memories. This poem looks and feels finished, so I probably didn't intend to write more lines or stanzas. Sometimes I get an idea for a poem, write two or three lines, and get stuck. At other times the poem is complete in three lines. For me, writing spiritual poetry requires prayer and meditation. I read a prayer or scripture verse, meditate on it and write whatever words come into my mind. In order to edit a poem, I have to let it lay for a couple of days before rereading it and attempting to edit or rewrite. Day 10 entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" . Footnotes |
Fiḍál (Grace), 6 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Tuesday, June 9, 2020 Day 9 entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" . It's the little things that create happiness. One of the things that made me smile today was the Wizard of Id comic. The Wizard turned himself into a bat and flew into the King of Id's throne room the was the king a "Happy Transformation Tuesday!" Until I read that comic, I'd never heard of Transformation Tuesday. I looked it up and found out it's social networking thing. People post before and after photos of themselves. I'm not sure about posting before photos, but I might consider posting an after photo. Other things that made me happy or made me smile.
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Kamál (Perfection), 5 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Monday, June 8, 2020 Day 8 entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" . The "Blogging Circle of Friends " prompt for June 8, 2020 is “In this note that he kept in his personal archives, he wrote a message that still resonates today. ‘Nothing more ugly in the whole wide world than INTOLERANCE (between) Black, white, red, yellow, boy or girl. INTOLERANCE.’” Prince What are your thoughts? Intolerance, in my opinion, is one of the oldest sins practiced by human beings, and it is becoming more obvious every day that it is a sin. Its roots go deep into the soil of humanity, because it has been with the human race for millennia. It is a sin because it goes against the law of love revealed by every messenger of God. It is one of those sins that many people do not realize is a sin because it is encouraged by family, clerics, and politicians. It does not matter who encourages it or practices it, it is still a sin. It is a sin we all need to ask forgiveness for and root out of our daily life. "We are bound to you by the strongest ties of love and unity. We long with heart and soul for the day to arrive when the tabernacle of the oneness of humanity will have been raised in the midmost heart of the world and the banner of universal peace unfurled in all regions. The oneness of humanity must therefore be established, that the edifice of universal peace may be raised in turn." 'Abdu'l-Baha13 Intolerance is opposed to the oneness of humanity! Intolerance is opposed to world peace. Footnotes |
Jamál (Beauty), 4 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Sunday, June 7, 2020 Day 7 entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" . Prayer for America "O Thou kind Lord! This gathering is turning to Thee. These hearts are radiant with Thy love. These minds and spirits are exhilarated by the message of Thy glad-tidings. O God! Let this American democracy become glorious in spiritual degrees even as it has aspired to material degrees, and render this just government victorious. Confirm this revered nation to upraise the standard of the oneness of humanity, to promulgate the Most Great Peace, to become thereby most glorious and praiseworthy among all the nations of the world. O God! This American nation is worthy of Thy favors and is deserving of Thy mercy. Make it precious and near to Thee through Thy bounty and bestowal." ‘Abdu’l-Bahá14 In this time of protest and violence, it's sometimes difficult to say this prayer because it shows a different vision of the U.S. than the one we see on the news. However, the vision of American in this prayer is potentially what America can be. The future of America depends upon its acceptance of the oneness of humanity, which will bring justice to every individual in this country. The history of America shows that it has never accepted the oneness of humanity. The difficulties and violence that is plaguing the country at this time of change comes from its unacceptance of the oneness of the human race. Acceptance of the oneness of humanity, means that everyone is treated equally and with justice by everyone, but that hasn't been the way American began. America has the potential to lead the world, however, without acceptance of the oneness of the human race that potential will never be reached. We have to pray for America. We have to demonstrate, through the practice, that we accept the oneness of humanity. We have to stand up for justice. We have to speak out against hate and prejudice. America will eventually reach its potential, at least it will if each individual takes a stand for equality and justice. Footnotes |
Jalál (Glory), 3 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Saturday, June 6, 2020 Don't remain silent Silence perpetuates the hate that encourages the killing of other human being because of their skin color, nationality, religion, or any other label that separates the daughters of Adam and the sons of Eve into armed camps thrusting for the blood of perceived enemies. Don't remain silent, ask yourself the hard questions, and question your own learned prejudices; don't remain locked in the silent darkness of fear. Day 6 entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" . Note: I wrote this on June 6 and edit it on June 7. |
Istiqlál (Independence), 2 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Friday, June 5, 2020 Day 5 entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" . The "Blogging Circle of Friends " prompt for June 4, 2020: "Half a century ago, the amazing courage of Rosa Parks, the visionary leadership of Martin Luther King, and the inspirational actions of the civil rights movement led politicians to write equality into the law and make real the promise of America for all her citizens. -David Cameron What happened to equality? How did we turn back the clock of time and commit the same horrible crimes that were a a social norm before Rosa and Martin's time? Your thoughts about what's happening across the United States." What happened to equality? Nothing happened to it, we never truly had it. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. brought inequality and injustice into the nation's headlines. They helped get equality written into the laws of this country; however, those laws didn't change much because they didn't address institutionalized racism. They didn't bring justice into the institutions that make up the government and corporations of America. They didn't encourage most white Americas to look into their hearts and confront the false concepts and definitions of race taught to them as children. Most people are protesting because they see the injustice. Some are protesting because against the injustice, while others are so attached to the status quo that they fear change and don't want the spotlight on the injustice. Violent protest take the spotlight off the injustice and focus it on the violence, which doesn't help change the injustice to justice. Traditional and outmoded concepts of race, that came into the institutions of America before and during the time of slavery. These definitions were intended to subjugate anyone that wasn't white or didn't look white. These definitions are still believed by many people today and are still prevalent in most governmental institutions. To change this we must confront injustice vocally. We can't remain silent because to do so is to repeat the injustices of the past and carry them into the future. |
Istijlál (Majesty), 1 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Thursday, June 4, 2020 Feast of Light The radiance of a new day The brightness of a new month awakens my mind to the joy of God's Most Great Name intoned in the crisp morning air and my mind shouts: "Welcome Núr!" Word by word I consume the splendour of religion renewed through the revelation of Baha'u'llah, and I shout my gratitude: “Yá Bahá’u’l-Abhá!”15 Day 4 Entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" Footnotes |
ʻIdál (Justice), 19 ʻAẓamat (Grandeur) 177 B.E. Wednesday, June 3, 2020 Day 3 Entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" Summer solstice doesn't occur until Saturday, June 20, at 3.44 P.M PDT. We're already experiencing triple digit temperatures here in Las Vegas. This means that it's going to be a hot and uncomfortable summer. A hot summer means sky high electric bills. Right now I don't have to worry about that because I have a $72.31 credit after this month's power bill was paid. I may have to worry about the power bill in July (if I go over the $72.31), and I know I'll have to deal with it in August, but that is a few weeks away, Summer temperatures rise to the triple digits without cooling rain. Right now, I'm not looking forward to summer, but that could change over the next few week. When I was growing up in Blackwell, Oklahoma, I always looked forward to summer. Summer was fun because we went to the Lake on the weekends with my Grandparents. Summer was fun because we didn't go to regular school, we got the entire summer off. Summer was fun because we went to vacation Bible school, and learned how to be good Southern Baptist. I'm still not sure how a good Southern Baptist is supped to ace because all we did was memorize bible verses, learn songs, play games, and make craft stuff, but it was fun; at least, most of the time. The only songs, from Vacation Bible School, I remember are "This Little Light of Mine", and "Jesus Loves the Little Children". Some of the games we played were "Ring Around the Rosie" and "Dancing Around the Maypole". I remember memorizing John 3:16 and Psalms 23. I suppose there were other things we did, but I don't remember what they were. |
Fiḍál (Grace), 18 ʻAẓamat (Grandeur) 177 B.E. Tuesday, June 2, 2020 Humanity has come to the awakening! "Chaos and confusion are daily increasing in the world. They will attain such intensity as to render the frame of mankind unable to bear them. Then will men be awakened..." 'Abdu'l-Baha Chaos reigns in every nation, confusion blankets the minds and blinds the eyes of both national leaders and citizens. Humanity has come to the awakening, to the realization that its peace and security rest on the complete acceptance of its innate oneness. Day 2 Entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" . |
Kamál (Perfection), 17 ʻAẓamat (Grandeur) 177 B.E. Monday, June 1, 2020 This entry begins my first entry into "The Bard's Hall Contest" . Joyful June plays a melodious tune, that reverberates through the atmosphere and encouraging lovers to stroll beneath the Strawberry moon. The flowers of June dance in the summer breeze, as birds intone the gratitude to oak and olive trees. June temperatures rise ascending into the triple digits, and making swimming pools a prize. |