As we both belted our voices over the phone, we sang until our spirits were uplifted and I personally could sense that she was in my heart’s embrace even though she was physically away from me.  The song we sang was our own rendition of “Sign of Love”, from SKY‘s brilliant CD “A Cycle of Divine Love Songs“:

O SON OF MAN!
For everything there is a sign. The sign of love is fortitude under My decree and patience under My trials.
(Baha’u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words, #48)

Bahá’u'lláh has stated quite clearly in His Writings the essential requisites for our spiritual growth, and these are stressed again and again by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His Talks and Tablets. One can summarize them briefly in this way:

1. The recital each day of one of the Obligatory Prayers with pure-hearted devotion.

2. The regular reading of the Sacred Scriptures, specifically at least each morning and evening, with reverence, attention and thought.

3. Prayerful meditation on the teachings, so that we may understand them more deeply, fulfil them more faithfully, and convey them more accurately to others.

4. Striving every day to bring our behavior more into accordance with the high standards that are set forth in the teachings.

5. Teaching the Cause of God.

6. Selfless service in the work of the Cause and in the carrying on of our trade or profession.”

(From a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to a National Spiritual Assembly. September 1, 1983; listed in Lights of Guidance, Fourth Revised Edition, Section XLV, Reverence and Spirituality, p. 541, #1835)

Happy growing!

Here are the lyrics of the song posted in tribute to Kathy Grammer whose legacy of inspiring music and lyrics lives on:

See me beautiful,
look for the best in me.
That’s what I really am,
and all I want to be.
It may take some time
It may be hard to find,
but see me beautiful.

See me beautiful,
each and every day.
Could you take a chance?
Could you find a way?
To see me shining through
in everything I do
and see me beautiful.

~ by Kathy and Red Grammer

May Baha’u'llah embrace Kathy’s spirit and her loved ones!

The teaching project, coordinated by a fine young man from England, is still in the works. We are still trying to identify activities and receptive population but the important thing is that the first steps have been taken. Next Wednesday and Thursday few other travel teachers will come — from Greece, Macedonia and Germany — and hopefully I will be able to assit them and do some door-to-door teaching using the visual presentation.

My first teaching opportunity came already – as soon as I showed up in the Lufthansa airplane at Dulles Airport. As I was taking my seat, I noticed that the lady who was sitting next to me was greeted by her passing daugther who had to go and sit somewhere way back. I offered to switch my seat with her so they could be together. She gladly accepted and I left a “Baha’is believe in… ” card on the seat to greet the new passenger…

In the mean time, I am thoroughly enjoying the Bulgarian culture and visiting with my family. There is something very refreshing about spending time with my brother and sister-in-law, pouring our hearts out and after that deep, honest conversation, feeling better about life, universe and everything else.

Tomorrow I will coincidentally attend the engagement party of a nephew of mine, and later in the week I will go on a mountain hiking trip with another Baha’i friend from my hometown.

Last but not least, my dad will celebrate his 75th birthday and I am sure having his two sons together again will be the best gift he could ask for.

As I am wrapping up this post, I can smell the delicious flavor of my sister-in-law’s home cooking! Yummy! Not bad for a first day back in Bugaria.

This is a three layer cake where the top and bottom layers are identical but the middle one has walnuts. Each layer is baked separately. After the sugar syrup and the cream are prepared, each layer is covered with syrup and then cream. Finally, the top is decorated with walnuts and chocolate.

Ingredients for each layers

• 3 eggs
• 1 not-full cup of sugar
• 1 cup of flour
• a few drops of vanilla extract
• 1 tea spoon of baking powder

Instructions

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with a mixer and add the sugar and the vanilla. In another mixing bowl, mix the flour and baking powder Add the flour and baking powder mix to the eggs and sugar and make smooth batter. Pour the batter into a round baking pane and bake for 15 – 20 min at 380-400 degrees. Do the same for each layer with the only difference for the middle layer, adding a cup of walnut finely chopped in a good processor.

Ingredients for the sugar syrup

• 2 cups of water
• 1 cup of sugar

Instructions

Put the water and sugar in a pot on medium fire and mix until the sugar is fully absorbed by the water. Warm syrup works best.

Ingredients for the cream

• 1 liter of milk
• 2 egg separated into yolks and whites
• 100 ml of cold milk
• 1 cup of sugar
• 8 spoonfuls of flour
• a few drops of vanilla

Instructions

Pour the 1 liter of milk into a pot and put it on medium fire to heat. Add the cup of sugar to the hot milk. Mix regularly so it does not burn on the bottom of the pot. Mix the egg yolks and the 100 ml of cold milk in a mixing bowl. Add the 8 spoonfuls of flour and the vanilla extract. Mix into smooth batter. In another mixing bowl, beat the egg whites and set aside for the end. Very carefully, start adding the egg yolk / flour batter into the pot with the warm milk and mix energetically so that they mix nicely. Continue mixing until the mix thickens.

At the end, add the beat the egg whites into the mix to make the butter more airy. Turn off the fire. Put each baked cake layer into the baking pan and cover it with sugar syrup and then a think layer of the cream. Repeat for each cake layer and decorate to your heart’s desire on top — I use chopped walnuts for cover and chocolate syrup for the signs. Put aside in a cool space and serve on the next day — that allows for the cake layers to get moist and juicy.

Last but not least, enjoy the cake in the company of your loved ones!

But, O my brother, when a true seeker determineth to take the step of search in the path leading to the knowledge of the Ancient of Days, he must, before all else, cleanse and purify his heart, which is the seat of the revelation of the inner mysteries of God, from the obscuring dust of all acquired knowledge, and the allusions of the embodiments of satanic fancy. He must purge his breast, which is the sanctuary of the abiding love of the Beloved, of every defilement, and sanctify his soul from all that pertaineth to water and clay, from all shadowy and ephemeral attachments. He must so cleanse his heart that no remnant of either love or hate may linger therein, lest that love blindly incline him to error, or that hate repel him away from the truth. Even as thou dost witness in this day how most of the people, because of such love and hate, are bereft of the immortal Face, have strayed far from the Embodiments of the divine mysteries, and, shepherdless, are roaming through the wilderness of oblivion and error. That seeker must at all times put his trust in God, must renounce the peoples of the earth, detach himself from the world of dust, and cleave unto Him Who is the Lord of Lords.

(Baha’u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 192)

Baha’u'llah further offers an unfailing recipe for how to remain in His presence:

At the dawn of every day he should commune with God, and with all his soul persevere in the quest of his Beloved. He should consume every wayward thought with the flame of His loving mention, and, with the swiftness of lightning, pass by all else save Him.
(Baha’u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 192)

The communing with God is pretty obvious — daily prayer and meditation on the Holy Writings. The wayward thoughts are trickier to define, and to deal with. I am pretty sure for everyone they are different. For me sometimes these have been thoughts of things I used to do when I was too afraid of the painful reality of needing to grow; other times these were thoughts magnifying the faults of others with the same idea — of minimizing my own shortcomings.

But lately I am discovering a whole different category of thoughts that, when left unchecked, is a sure way of bringing pain upon myself — the thoughts that get me carried away from the present, whether back in the past reliving painful mistakes I have made or the future in a feeble attempt to plan it, calculate it, control it. The simple truth is, no one can predict the future. All that we know is the general direction of where things are going — spiritual progress not only despite physical pain but because of it. If we embrace the truth that growth is painful, the hope is we will not fight it, but will focus on enjoying God’s presence, one moment at a time.

2. O SON OF SPIRIT!
The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes.

(Baha’u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)

Justice, as expressed in the ability to see through one’s own eyes, seems to be so much broader and powerful than justice dispensed through court systems. Thus the need to cultivate this ability, to see justly, is of paramount importance. But what I was after was a bit of a “chicken and egg” question: what comes first in our struggle to establish unity — justice as a precondition for unity, or unity as the condition for establishing justice. During a conversation tonight, a dear friend, Layli, helped me to sort this out by encouraging me to go to the Baha’i Writings:

The word of God which the Supreme Pen hath recorded on the sixth leaf of the Most Exalted Paradise is the following: The light of men is Justice. Quench it not with the contrary winds of oppression and tyranny. The purpose of justice is the appearance of unity among men. The ocean of divine wisdom surgeth within this exalted word, while the books of the world cannot contain its inner significance. Were mankind to be adorned with this raiment, they would behold the day-star of the utterance, ‘On that day God will satisfy everyone out of His abundance,’[1] shining resplendent above the horizon of the world. Appreciate ye the value of this utterance; it is a noble fruit that the Tree of the Pen of Glory hath yielded. Happy is the man that giveth ear unto it and observeth its precepts. Verily I say, whatever is sent down from the heaven of the Will of God is the means for the establishment of order in the world and the instrument for promoting unity and fellowship among its peoples. Thus hath the Tongue of this Wronged One spoken from His Most Great Prison.
[1 cf. Qur'án 4:129.]

(Baha’u'llah, Tablets of Baha’u'llah, p. 66)

O SON OF JUSTICE!
Whither can a lover go but to the land of his beloved? and what seeker findeth rest away from his heart’s desire? To the true lover reunion is life, and separation is death. His breast is void of patience and his heart hath no peace. A myriad lives he would forsake to hasten to the abode of his beloved.

(Baha’u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words)