O thou beloved of my heart![1] I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty.[2] My claim on thee is great, it cannot be forgotten. My grace to thee is plenteous, it cannot be veiled. My love has made in thee [...]

 

O thou beloved of my heart![1]

I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty.[2]

My claim on thee is great, it cannot be forgotten. My grace to thee is plenteous, it cannot be veiled. My love has made in thee its home, it cannot be concealed. My light is manifest to thee, it cannot be obscured. [3]

Rejoice thou with great joy that We have remembered thee both now and in the past. Indeed the sweet savours of this remembrance shall endure and shall not change throughout the eternity of the Names of God, the Lord of mankind. [4]

Sorrow not if, in these days and on this earthly plane, things contrary to your wishes have been ordained and manifested by God, for days of blissful joy, of heavenly delight, are assuredly in store for you. [5]

I have not forgotten nor will I forget thee. [6] Verily, my soul longs for thee, for the lamp of the love of Baha’ is lighted within thy heart and I love to look upon thy face. [7] I have utmost love for thee and thy family for thou servest me — how can I be offended at you? Be assured and happy. [8]

I love thee with all my heart and pray for thee every eve and morn. [9] I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine. [10] At all times do I speak of you and call you to mind. I pray unto the Lord, and with tears I implore Him to rain down all these blessings upon you, and gladden your hearts, and make blissful your souls, and grant you exceeding joy and heavenly delights. [11]

Thy name is often mentioned in the presence of this Wronged One and the glances of Our loving-kindness and compassion are directed towards thee.[12] The hearts are cheered whenever you are mentioned, the souls are comforted in your love, the holy spirits are captivated by your fragrance, the eyes are expecting to see you and the hearts are longing to meet you. [13] Indeed could ye but know how dear ye are in the presence of your true and heavenly Father, ye would stretch forth your wings and take your flight. [14]

Surely a day will come when all thy desires will be attained and God will answer all that which thou hast prayed for in thine heart, and I beg of Him to make all that which thou hast longed for, long ago, very attainable. Then thine heart will be overflowed with joy on account of such a great bounty. [15]

God has crowned you with honour and in your hearts has He set a radiant star; verily the light thereof shall brighten the whole world! [16]

He has chosen you to be His messengers of love throughout the world, to be His bearers of spiritual gifts to man, to be the means of spreading unity and concord on the earth. Thank God with all your hearts that such a privilege has been given unto you.[17]

We have graciously accepted thy devotions, thy praise, thy teaching work and the services thou hast rendered for the sake of this mighty Announcement. We have also hearkened unto that which thy tongue hath uttered at the meetings and gatherings. Verily thy Lord heareth and observeth all things. [18]

Know thou that, verily, the eye of favors is directed to thee and is beholding thee with a divine glance, so that thou mayest, with clear eyes, see the lights of the Kingdom upon the horizon. Remember, at all times, this great favor and thank thy Lord and supplicate to Him every day. [19]

I hope that, in the path of the love of God, thou wilt exert thyself exceedingly and thy wilt enjoy life. [20]

Now I say unto you, bear this on your hearts and in your minds. Verily your light shall illumine the whole world, your spirituality shall affect the heart of things. You shall in truth become the lighted torches of the globe. Fear not, neither be dismayed, for your light shall penetrate the densest darkness. This is the Promise of God, which I give unto you. Rise! and serve the Power of God! [21]

With Deepest Abiding Love,

God

Your True and Heavenly Father

 

When women come into the Bahá’í Faith, it’s sometimes because the principle of equality between men and women is dear to their hearts.  It can be a severe mental test to discover all the prayers use the male pronoun, and that references to God are almost all male.  They want to know that God doesn’t [...]

When women come into the Bahá’í Faith, it’s sometimes because the principle of equality between men and women is dear to their hearts.  It can be a severe mental test to discover all the prayers use the male pronoun, and that references to God are almost all male.  They want to know that God doesn’t prefer one sex over the other, and they want to see it demonstrated in the teachings of Baha’u'llah. Someone once wrote to the Universal House of Justice who gave this guidance:

1. Nature of God: A number of authors express the view that religions which stress the maleness of the Supreme Being tend to deify the masculine principle and see it as the only source of legitimate authority. It is important, therefore, to appreciate the Bahá’í perspective on the nature of God. To assist … in her study of this subject, we attach a brief compilation on this subject, from which a number of points can be drawn:

• From the Bahá’í perspective, the “Essence” of God is “unknowable”.
• The “Reality of Divinity … is invisible, incomprehensible, inaccessible, a pure essence which cannot be described …”
• God is “exalted beyond every human attribute, such as corporeal existence…”
• “God is never flesh”. The Godhead has no physical form and does not in any way resemble a human being, male or female.
• The “attributes” of the Manifestations of God are the means by which the “Divine characteristics and perfections” of God are made known to humanity.

For additional information about the nature of God, … is referred to the book by Amatu’l-Bahá Ruhiyyih Khánum, The Desire of the World (Oxford: George Ronald, 1982). Of particular interest is the listing of the names and titles of God found on pp. 167-186. It will be seen that many of these titles encompass such feminine qualities and attributes as have been associated with the so-called “Great Goddess”.  (The Universal House of Justice, 1992 Feb 23, Ancient Goddess Religions)

2. Male Manifestations of God:  The Manifestations of God embody the names, the attributes and the perfections of God. While ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has clearly affirmed that women and men both reveal the attributes of God and that “from the spiritual viewpoint there is no difference between them”, the Manifestations have the particular function of revealing the Will of God to humanity. Bahá’u'lláh explains in the Gleanings that the Manifestation of God “representeth the Godhead in both the Kingdom of His Cause and the world of creation”.

Concerning the sex of the Manifestations of God and the implications for the equality of women and men, the Universal House of Justice, in a letter dated 27 October 1986 written on its behalf to an individual believer, provides the following elucidation:
Even though there have been outstanding women such as Sarah, Asíyih, the Virgin Mary, Fatimih, Tahirih and the Greatest Holy Leaf in every Dispensation, it is an incontrovertible fact that all Manifestations of God known to us have been men. Moreover, it is a clear provision in Bahá’í administration that the Guardians were to be men and that membership on the Universal House of Justice is confined to men. Whether these facts point to a differentiation in function that is unalterable, or whether it was merely a characteristic of a period which will change when mankind attains its maturity is a matter that will, no doubt, become clear in the future. The important point for Bahá’ís to remember is that, in face of the categorical pronouncements in Bahá’í Scripture establishing the equality of men and women, even these facts are no evidence at all of the superiority of the male over the female sex. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has explained that equality does not mean identity of function. He has also stated that the few areas in which men and women are not equal are “negligible”.

We must also remember that sex is a characteristic of this world, not of the spiritual world.

Hence, while no known Manifestations of God have, to date, been female, it is also true that throughout religious history outstanding women, who do not have the station of Manifestation or goddess, have performed many of the creative, nurturant and protective functions that have been ascribed to female deities and goddesses in ancient times. In other words, religious history provides examples of female role models who can inspire, motivate and empower the (women) believers. Further, it is interesting to observe that Bahá’u'lláh refers to His Revelation as the “Mother Book”, which symbolizes, among other things, the creative and regenerative influence of His teachings, and in Some Answered Questions (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1984), ‘Abdu’l-Bahá likens the Law of God to a woman. See Chapter 13.  (The Universal House of Justice, 1992 Feb 23, Ancient Goddess Religions)

3. Equality of Women and Men:  And, in one of His talks, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá emphasises the uniqueness of the Bahá’í position on the equality of women and men. He states that Bahá’u'lláh establishes the equality of man and woman. This is peculiar to the teachings of Bahá’u'lláh, for all other religions have placed man above woman. (The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912 (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1982), p. 455)

From this we can understand that sex is not a characteristic of the Spiritual Kingdom, so God is neither male nor female.   There is no difference in the sight of God between women and men and the fact that all the known Manifestations to date, and the membership of the Universal House of Justice being confined to men during this Dispensation, is not evidence of the superiority of men over women.

Have you ever struggled with this issue?  How has this contributed to your understanding of the topic?   Post your comments here:

 

Those who’ve experienced extreme trauma in their lives will know how lonely and desolate it feels when we believe with every fiber of our being that God has abandoned us. Bahá’u’lláh too felt abandoned by God as we see in this quote: O Lord my God! Thou beholdest my dwelling-place, and the prison into which [...]

Those who’ve experienced extreme trauma in their lives will know how lonely and desolate it feels when we believe with every fiber of our being that God has abandoned us.

Bahá’u'lláh too felt abandoned by God as we see in this quote:

O Lord my God! Thou beholdest my dwelling-place, and the prison into which I am cast, and the woes I suffer. By Thy might! No pen can recount them, nor can any tongue describe or number them. I know not, O my God, for what purpose Thou hast abandoned me to Thine adversaries. Thy glory beareth me witness! I sorrow not for the vexations I endure for love of Thee, nor feel perturbed by the calamities that overtake me in Thy path. My grief is rather because Thou delayest to fulfill what Thou hast determined in the Tablets of Thy Revelation, and ordained in the books of Thy decree and judgment.  (Baha’u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u'llah, p. 10-11)

But He never does:

God, the Vigilant, the Just, the Loving, the All-Wise . . . will [not] be willing to abandon His children to their fate.  (Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day is Come, p. 4-5)

Have you ever heard the expression:  When you point a finger at someone, there are three fingers pointing back at you?  This is what is really happening.  Often it’s we who are blaming Him because we don’t understand a particular test, or we aren’t deepened enough in the Writings to know the purpose of tests, or we think that life should go a certain way:

They have abandoned their God, and clung unto their desires. They truly have strayed and are in error. (Baha’u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 134)

Or we think we know what is best for us:

The counterfeit or imitation of true religion has adulterated human belief and the foundations have been lost sight of . . . This is verily the century when these imitations must be forsaken, superstitions abandoned and God alone worshiped. We must look at the reality of the prophets and their teachings in order that we may agree.  (Abdu’l-Bahá, Foundations of World Unity, p. 16)

God wants us to trust him, and we can’t do that without faith:

That individual, however, who puts his faith in God and believes in the words of God — because he is promised and certain of a plentiful reward in the next life, and because worldly benefits as compared to the abiding joy and glory of future planes of existence are nothing to him — will for the sake of God abandon his own peace and profit and will freely consecrate his heart and soul to the common good.  (Abdu’l-Bahá, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 96-97)

God wants us to return to Him, and He tells us how:

Out of the essence of knowledge I gave thee being, why seekest thou enlightenment from anyone beside Me? Out of the clay of love I molded thee, how dost thou busy thyself with another? Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayest find Me standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting.  (Baha’u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words 13)

We need to give up our will and submit to the will of God:

Commit thyself to God; give up thy will and choose that of God; abandon thy desire and lay hold on that of God; that thou mayest be a holy, spiritual and heavenly example among the maid-servants of God.  (Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of Abdu’l-Bahá v1, p. 89-90)

He gives us a prayer we can use to help us return to Him:

I implore Thee, O my God, by Thy mercy that hath surpassed all created things, and to which all that are immersed beneath the oceans of Thy names bear witness, not to abandon me unto my self, for my heart is prone to evil. Guard me, then, within the stronghold of Thy protection and the shelter of Thy care. I am he, O my God, whose only wish is what Thou hast determined by the power of Thy might. All I have chosen for myself is to be assisted by Thy gracious appointments and the ruling of Thy will, and to be aided with the tokens of Thy decree and judgment.  I beseech Thee, O Thou Who art the Beloved of the hearts which long for Thee, by the Manifestations of Thy Cause and the Day-Springs of Thine inspiration, and the Exponents of Thy majesty, and the Treasuries of Thy knowledge, not to suffer me to be deprived of Thy holy Habitation, Thy Fane and Thy Tabernacle. Aid me, O my Lord, to attain His hallowed court, and to circle round His person, and to stand humbly at His door.  Thou art He Whose power is from everlasting to everlasting. Nothing escapeth Thy knowledge. Thou art, verily, the God of power, the God of glory and wisdom.  Praised be God, the Lord of the worlds!  (Baha’u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u'llah, p. 210-211)

Have you ever felt abandoned by God, and if so, how did you return?

by Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach Have you ever experienced the presence of God?  One of my Bahá’í-inspired life coaching clients sent this to me this morning, and I thought it demonstrated it perfectly.  It’s a piece of inspirational fiction written by poet Ruth Gillis. I hope you enjoy it, but get your Kleenex out [...]

by Susan Gammage, Baha'i Life Coach

Have you ever experienced the presence of God?  One of my Bahá’í-inspired life coaching clients sent this to me this morning, and I thought it demonstrated it perfectly.  It’s a piece of inspirational fiction written by poet Ruth Gillis.

I hope you enjoy it, but get your Kleenex out before reading further:

A drunk man in an Oldsmobile
They said had run the light
That caused the six-car pileup
On 109 that night.

When broken bodies lay about
And blood was everywhere,
The sirens screamed out eulogies,
For death was in the air.

A mother, trapped inside her car,
Was heard above the noise;
Her plaintive plea near split the air:
Oh, God, please spare my boys!

She fought to loose her pinned hands;
She struggled to get free,
But mangled metal held her fast
In grim captivity.

Her frightened eyes then focused
On where the back seat once had been,
But all she saw was broken glass and
Two children’s seats crushed in.

Her twins were nowhere to be seen;
She did not hear them cry,
And then she prayed they’d been thrown free,
Oh, God, don’t let them die!

Then firemen came and cut her loose,
But when they searched the back,
They found therein no little boys,
But the seat belts were intact.

They thought the woman had gone mad
And was traveling alone,
But when they turned to question her,
They discovered she was gone.

Policemen saw her running wild
And screaming above the noise
In beseeching supplication,
Please help me find my boys!

They’re four years old and wear blue shirts;
Their jeans are blue to match.
One cop spoke up, They’re in my car,
And they don’t have a scratch.

They said their daddy put them there
And gave them each a cone,
Then told them both to wait for Mom
To come and take them home.

I’ve searched the area high and low,
But I can’t find their dad..
He must have fled the scene,
I guess, and that is very bad.

The mother hugged the twins and said,
While wiping at a tear,
He could not flee the scene, you see,
For he’s been dead a year.

The cop just looked confused and asked,
Now, how can that be true?
The boys said, Mommy, Daddy came
And left a kiss for you.

He told us not to worry
And that you would be all right,
And then he put us in this car with
The pretty, flashing light.

We wanted him to stay with us,
Because we miss him so,
But Mommy, he just hugged us tight
And said he had to go.

He said someday we’d understand
And told us not to fuss,
And he said to tell you, Mommy,
He’s watching over us.

The mother knew without a doubt
That what they spoke was true,
For she recalled their dad’s last words,
I will watch over you.

The firemen’s notes could not explain
The twisted, mangled car,
And how the three of them escaped
Without a single scar.

But on the cop’s report was scribed,
In print so very fine,
An angel walked the beat tonight on Highway 109.

Have you had any miracles in your life?  Post your comments here:

by Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach In my life coaching practice, I’m often asked to help people find their purpose in life. As a Baha’i, this is easy: Our purpose in life is to know God and to worship Him. Many people ask: how is this possible, if we can’t see Him? In order to [...]

by Susan Gammage, Baha'i Life Coach

In my life coaching practice, I’m often asked to help people find their purpose in life. As a Baha’i, this is easy: Our purpose in life is to know God and to worship Him. Many people ask: how is this possible, if we can’t see Him?

In order to better understand Him, we look for an image of God we can relate to. Many of us grew up with an image of an angry, punishing man with a long beard up in the sky. If this is our image of God, why would we make our life purpose to know Him and worship Him?

This summer, I had the bounty of being able to go for walks in the local provincial park with Jeremy McClung, a pastor whose goal was to help people find God in nature.  His site is at:  http://www.muskokacommunitychurch.com/ This posting was inspired by one of his talks.

The other day I was hiking through the woods reflecting on God as an Unknowable Essence and Jeremy inspired me with these insights.

God as an artist: Autumn in Canada is full of colour (vibrant red and yellow and orange), especially where I live, where busloads of tourists (leaf-lookers) come to see the beauty of nature. Imagine an artist whose painting changes 4 times a year!

God as the wind: We can’t see the wind, even though air is around us all the time. Both Air and God are unpredictable and unexpected. We never know what God’s plans are, and they often surprise us. They’re sometimes gentle, sometimes violent, just as the wind. Just as the wind breathes new life into a hot, humid, muggy day, so does God breathe new life into a parched life. My most dangerous prayer is “what next?”, which always invites a push in a direction I couldn’t have foreseen! Sometimes it takes me pioneering or travel teaching and most recently it’s pushing me into starting my Bahá’í-inspired life coaching business.

God as the water: There are many references in the Bahá’í Writings to the Ocean of God’s presence, and being immersed in the sea of His love. Water is life-giving: without it we won’t live. I’ve often watched my houseplants wilt and become lifeless by forgetting to give them water. Humans wilt and die spiritually without a regular dose of prayer and meditation. When we are thirsty, something deep inside us compels us to look for something to drink. Sometimes we reach for something that is filled with chemicals and caffeine, when what the body wants is water. Spiritually we feel the same longing and deep desire to be quenched by God’s love, and many of us turn to busyness (my personal favorite), shopping, entertainment, perfectionism, sex or addictions, rather than turning to God and allowing Him to quench our thirst. It’s not working for me! How about you?

When things go bad, as they inevitably will, where is our strength? If we rely on ourselves or others we’ll never be able to transcend our difficulties. We’re told:

Forget yourself. God’s help will surely come! When you call on the Mercy of God waiting to reinforce you, your strength will be tenfold. (‘Abdul-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 38)

Where do you find God’s breath pushing you in new directions? Where do you find His life-giving waters? How does this help you find your life purpose? Post your comments here.

by Susan Gammage, Baha’i Life Coach In the Bahá’í Writings, we are told that our purpose in life is to know God, and to worship Him (we remind ourselves of this every day when we say the short obligatory prayer. But how can we keep this at the forefront of our day? Here is something [...]