"Try with all your hearts to be willing channels for God’s Bounty. For I say unto you that 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. For a life devoted to praise is not too long in which to thank God for such a favour." – Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 67.
Over the course of this week, my community is focused on drawing closer to friends, neighbours, relatives and colleagues. We are doing this by intentionally creating moments of meaning where we may converse about spiritual ideas and how they are related to what is going on in our lives and the wider world. We all, deep in our hearts, wish for things to be better but often we have no idea how to make the changes that we so desperately desire. The answers are out there somewhere and in coming together to talk about it perhaps we all may come up with creative solutions that we may implement in our own locality. The label "messenger of love" requires us to look at the world optimistically. To be intentional about seeing the good in life and in people. I have a few ideas about how I may embody this label today and appreciation will be the vehicle through which I may value who they are and the contributions they make. With the connections I have had the bounty to make over the past months, I have felt a strong yearning to begin a class for the spiritual education of children. I have spoken to a friend who is connected to many families and has been sharing stories with children in her neighbourhood. It seemed so natural to wed my desire to her efforts and share with her the activity that the Baha'is have learned is a necessary component of true education. We teach our young ones how to be successful in the world materially and leave out the development of the character piece, perhaps because we believe that that just happens as a matter of course. What is fascinating though, is that when we teach our children about spiritual qualities and how they strengthen and support our efforts to live morally upright lives, the effect of what they then do has greater impact. These are some of the ideas that can provoke uplifting conversations on parenting and expectations for our children. It is a conversation that needs to be expanded and extended in communities to equip the children of the world with the knowledge that they are our true wealth. Essentially, appreciating our children and the contributions they make now and will make in the future. Honouring the progress of this fledgling initiative will take much effort and will accrue many ups and downs. Practicing appreciation helps me to be thankful for what has happened and hopeful for what will be.