Writing in Snow

Motivational Moday: What is my motivation for this week?

Kamál (Perfection), 7 Masá’il (Questions) 174 B.E. - Monday, December 18, 2017

What is my motivation for the Week of December 18-22? There are six more days until my 71 birthday. There thirteen days left in 2017. This week I have to list the books I want to finish reading, followed by the books I want to start reading. I have to review, at least, twenty-four items between today and Friday. I need to post this week's writing goals on "Weekly Goals" , decide which contests I am entering, and I need to make a post to my offsite blog. In addition, I need to start cleaning off my computer desk because I do not want it looking like a mess on January 1. I don't mind it being a mess, I just don't want it to look like one.

Goals for Week of December 18-22
Posted on "Weekly Goals" .

Review at least 24 items during with at least 5 by newbies.
Submit at least one poem and one story to a contest.
Read two or three more part of God Speaks Again by Kenneth E. Bower.
Begin straightening Computer desk.
Post at least two or three times to my offsite blog.

I posted the "Blogging Circle of Friends "  prompt for today, when I returned for the Devotional Services yesterday. "DAY 1859: December 18, 2017 Prompt: Here are seven words that the CDC has been told avoid using. Use these seven words in you blog entry. The words are vulnerable, entitlement, diversity, transgender, fetus, evidence-based, and science-based." I wrote and posted my response "Words"  this morning.

"O my Lord, my Hope!1
Praise be unto Thee, for Thou hast sent down unto us this spiritual table, supreme benefit and heavenly blessing. O our Lord! Strengthen us to partake of this heavenly food, so that its fine essence may run through the pillars of our spiritual being and that we may thereby obtain a celestial power for serving Thy Cause, promulgating Thy signs and adorning Thy vineyard with lofty trees, the fruits whereof shall be near (to gather) and of perfuming fragrances. Verily Thou art the Possessor of great bounty! Verily Thou are the Clement, the Merciful!"

'Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, vol. 1'2

I now have two prayers to say before of after a meal. The first one I posted in "Motivation Monday: December 11, 2017" , and this one I posted today. After I found the other entry, I got to thinking about the subject. I knew that 'Abdu'l-Baha must have given a prayer to say before the meal, so I checked earlier entries on that blog.

Looking Ahead to 2018

I joined the "I Write in 2018"  challenge because it encourages me to enter a different contests each week. I am considering joining "CLOSED!The Monthly Reading Challenge"  in 2018, this challenge will encourage me to read. It could mean starting over on two books I have begun, but that's alright because I have started over on these books before. If I do join this challenge, I will have to put aside some time either in the morning or the evening to read. The reading challenge sounds like fun. I need to make a list of books I want to read, and figure out how many I can read each month. Perhaps stat with two and build up from there.

I filled "Flashes of Lightning"  with the last two stories for the 100 in that collection. Now all I need to do is write an introduction to the group of stories. I can write either a dear reader introduction or put a poem in the introduction about the stories.

Footnotes
1  May be said before meals.
2  Posted on Counsels and Explanations by 'Abdu'l-Baha -- daily readings for December 10, 2017.