Writing in Snow

The Fourth Friday in December 2017

Istiqlál (Independence), 11 Masá’il (Questions) 174 B.E. - Friday, December 22, 2017

This is the fourth Friday in 2017, in two days I will be 71 years young, and there are nine days left in the year. As of last night, I have given a total of 15,439 reviews since joining writing.com on October 31, 2002. As of this morning, I have 1,923,326 GPs in my Gift Points account. My premium plus membership expires on May 15, 2018, a 12-month membership costs 4,199,500 GPs, to purchase another 12-month membership I need 2,276,174 GPs. I can, if I so chose, extend that membership by either 3 or 6 months. A six month membership cost 2,349,500 GPs and a 3-month membership is 1,399,500 GPs. For a 6-month membership I need 426,154 GPs, and for a 3-month membership I need 76,174 GPs.

"My God, my Adored One, my King, my Desire! What tongue can voice my thanks to Thee? I was heedless, Thou didst awaken me. I had turned back from Thee, Thou didst graciously aid me to turn towards Thee. I was as one dead, Thou didst quicken me with the water of life. I was withered, Thou didst revive me with the heavenly stream of Thine utterance which hath flowed forth from the Pen of the All-Merciful."

Baha'u'llah12

I am thankful that I discovered and accepted Baha'u'llah in the late twentieth century. I have been a Baha'i for over thirty years, and, in those years, I have changed a great deal. My soul, my spirit, is still being transformed by Baha'u'llah. I still encounter test, some of them I fail and some I pass, and I know I will continue to encounter tests and difficulties until the day my soul transcends into the Abha paradise. I also know that the tests I fail, I will encounter again because they are intended to polish the mirror of my soul so that I can reflect the light of Baha'u'llah.

Goals Accomplished This Week
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.

Since I appear to have survived 2017, I need to begin considering my tentative goals for 2018. I say tentative because I normally don't make my definite goals until Naw-Ruz, which is Wednesday, March 21, 2018. I have signed up for the following challenges in the coming year "Project Write World"  and "I Write in 2018" . I have to decide if I am going to continue "Invalid Item"  in 2018. I had problems participating this year, when my computer went down. I discovered it is difficult to post anything from a smartphone. I will give this some thoughts and prayers over the next nine days, and make my final decision on "Invalid Item"  by January 1, 2018.

Writing Challenges for 2018

"Project Write World" 
"I Write in 2018" 
"Invalid Item" 

Footnotes
1  Quoted in the article "Thank you Bahá’u’lláh" by Micheal Curtotti https://beyondforeignness.org/4864.
2  From Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh, CLXXIII: “My God, my Adored One, my King, my Desire! What tongue can voice…”.