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And how often hath a devout believer, at the hour of his soul's ascension, been so changed as to fall into the nethermost fire! (22) Baha'u'llah (5:4) Please take a few minutes to write a few lines or paragraphs below about what you want to accomplish most in the years and decades that are still yours. What is your most urgent purpose? What plans do you have to prepare yourself for your heavenly home? What specific steps will you take before your earthly journey is over? If you have difficulty composing a message, here is some help. Take any sentences you like from the following example: (5:5) My Mission in This Life, and My Eternal Destiny in the Life to Come (5:6) There is a time when I must firmly choose the course I will follow, or the relentless drift of events will make all the decisions for me (5:7) I am here as a guest; my true home is heaven. To enter, I must be clean and clothed, radiant and fragrant; otherwise I will be as bewildered and anxious as a first-grader who hesitated to go home. When the principal asked her why, she said, "Yesterday I left my expensive sweater at school. My Mommy told me not to come home without it. I don't know where she wants me to go!" (5:8) I am a spiritual being with an everlasting destiny. I am a soul with a body, not a body with a soul. I will be on earth for only a little while, but my brief stay here is more critical in determining my future destiny than the eternity that follows it. I recognize that all the roses of heaven lie in the seeds of this life (5:9) My eternal home is heaven. My main mission in this life is to prepare my soul for that home. A consequence of that preparation is the profoundest and most enduring sense of fulfillment and happiness in this life (5:10) What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Christ (Mark 8:36) (5:11) What would it profit man, if he were to fail to recognize the Revelation of God? Nothing whatever. To this Mine own Self, the Omnipotent, the Omniscient, the All- Wise, will testify. (23 Baha'u'llah- ) (5:12) The time to choose the course of my spiritual destiny is now (5:13) Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. (Isaiah 55:6) (5:14) Therefore let everyone...pray to You while You may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach Him. (Psalms 32:4-6) (5:15) In my life God comes first, before my loved ones and me. My best moments are those devoted to God. Every day I will set aside at least half an hour to know God, to love Him, and to glorify Him. I will not allow worldly concerns or selfish desires take my attention away from my responsibility to God and to all humanity. I will pray for His guidance every day (5:16) I have total control over my choices. I do not have to follow the prejudices and untested assumptions of my ancestors. Conformity is a root cause of all evil. I will not let my spiritual destiny hang either on the wheel of chance, on my birth to my parents, on public opinion, on tradition, on conformity to authority figures, or on what my friends and relatives think (5:17) I will use no excuses to avoid my responsibility to God, to myself, and to humankind: (5:18) I am involved in all mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. John Donne (5:19) I will set aside a little time every day to pray to God and to ask Him to guide me by the light of His knowledge (5:20) O God! Refresh and gladden my spirit. Purify my heart. Illumine my powers. I lay all my affairs in Thy hand. Thou art my Guide and my Refuge.. (5:21) O God! Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself. I dedicate myself to Thee, O Lord. (24 'Abdu'l-Baha- ) (5:22) Is there any Remover of difficulties save God? Say: Praised be God! He is God! All are His servants, and all abide by His bidding! (25 The Bab- ) (5:23) Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long (5:24) You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning...? Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. (Psalms 25:4-5; 43:2-3) (5:25) References: |