Next week the Baha'i month of fasting will begin, a time where those Baha'is who are eligible to fast refrain from food and drink during the daylight hours. This is my favourite month of the year. I have learned over the years that it is a time for spiritual rejuvenation and refreshment. I have read this many times and when I first began to fast I did not take the time to meditate on its significance. Each year I see how these precious nineteen days are an opportunity to exponentially strengthen in the virtues and fortify my spiritual self for the happenings of the year ahead. It was with these thoughts in my mind that I did my virtues pick this morning. When consideration appeared I experienced a flash of disappointment, I was thinking more appropriate virtues would be detachment or honesty, those heavy hitters that I often cause me to struggle. As I read the card I saw the importance of consideration for me when the card referred to, mindfully consider what will result from our choices before acting. How many times do I have a thought and barrel ahead into action without weighing my options or giving a moments contemplation to the ensuing result, or I see only one outcome and do not take time to think about what else may potentially flow from my actions? Too many times to count, unfortunately. I was surprised that the card also referred to speaking with gentleness and tact. I do not immediately associate gentle speech and tact with consideration but as I take the time to give it more thought it is obvious. In weighing my words and adjusting my intonation, I am giving thought to other people and their feelings. This is of particular importance at the moment in the work I am doing. How do I generate a sense of unity in an organisation that does not even give it a thought? How do I encourage people to think about one another and not only themselves? As I continue to think about the significance of consideration appearing as a focus for the fast I marvel at how quick I am to think of this virtue as separate and distinct from the other virtues. What has clearly emerged as I write this, is that each and every virtue is so inextricably linked with the others, some very closely and some distantly. This blending and melding means that when I focus on one, such as consideration, I am focussing on all. Had it not been for the practice of consideration, I would not have thought about that! I am looking forward to focussing on brightening the lives of others during the month of the fast.
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