Well once again, I haven't blogged in a week. I seem to blog in spurts: several times a day or not at all for a few days. As always, I have been busy; however I've started blogging a couple of times and been at loss for anything to say.
Since I've posted, I've been very busy with my internship, babysitting, and a whole lot of reading, among various other things. Jay and I have made a LOT of progress in the Qur'an. Today we are meeting to talk about pages 167-202. So we're about halfway done, which is super exciting! I also finished Ruhi Book 1 with Caleb and Christie. We did it in two nights of about 3 hours each. We also didn't memorize all the quotations. (I suppose I should do that on my own time.) It may seem like we went through it quickly, but we spent a lot of time talking about anything that came to our minds. I think the fact that there were only three of us made it go quickly as well. I really enjoyed it, especially the Life and Death section. I wasn't sure what I was going to think of that section, but it was really lovely. I also enjoyed the other two sections. The whole book was extremely helpful as a new Baha'i and it gave me a lot to think about and apply to my life, which is always something I appreciate.
I've also been to church the last two Sundays. The series right now is called "Shocking Statements of Jesus." Last week's was good but yesterday's was fantastic. It talked about Jesus telling people to love their enemies and pray for them. The one thing I didn't like is that the guy speaking (whose name I don't remember, unfortunately) said that Jesus was the only prophet to have said this. I agree that he was (at least to my small knowledge) the first, but Baha'u'llah said to love all the world as well. Either way, it was really great and, once again, gave me a lot to think about. I always enjoy taking a talk (I hate the connotation of the word "sermon") from church and thinking of it from my new Baha'i perspective. (I say "new," but really I've held most Baha'i beliefs for as long as I can remember. Actually being a Baha'i, though does, I think, make a difference.) It is fun and enlightening to see the similarities between the religions. Of course, as a Baha'i, I hear about it often, but actually seeing it is striking in its truthfulness.
This week is quite busy, once again. I'm both babysitting and working, which I like, but it is draining. Tonight Jay and I are studying the Qur'an as I said. Tomorrow, Caleb, Christie, and I are planning the devotional part of Feast which Caleb is hosting. In addition to that, I'm having dinner with my friend Nichole one night and Jay and I will meet another night to do more Qur'an. I'm getting where I don't have a single night of the week free. I definitely like it, but sometimes I just want downtime. Oh well. I could have bigger problems.
One thing I did want to touch on is this: I haven't really been hanging out with non-Baha'is in a social setting in a couple months. Yes I've been working with non-Baha'is, babysitting non-Bahai's, and living with non-Baha'is, but that's about it. Jay is a notable exception, but we spend most of our time together discussing religion. Alex and Danica I've seen a couple of times, but not much. I did go to pre-Harry Potter midnight release dinner with several non-Baha's, but that was the only time I have socialized with a non-Baha'i group. Anyway, Saturday I went to the Mall of Georgia with a group of people because Jay had invited us to the "Movies Under the Stars" thing they do there. I was extremely surprised at how different it felt to me. I find myself much more sensitive to many things they said and did, notably comments that were said about people. I wasn't suspecting it and it was a little weird to me. But it made me realize how much I love the Baha'i community and how different Baha'is really are - in a good way, of course. Maybe I will write more about this later, but for now I have to go.
"The fundamental truth of the Manifestations is peace. This underlies all religion, all justice. The divine purpose is that men should live in unity, concord and agreement and should love one another. Consider the virtues of the human world and realize that the oneness of humanity is the primary foundation of them all. Read the Gospel and the other Holy Books. You will find their fundamentals are one and the same. Therefore, unity is the essential truth of religion and, when so understood, embraces all the virtues of the human world." (Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 32)
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