blessed is the spot and the house and the place...

My little apartment has been blessed with various meetings and gatherings of late. Here is a picture of one of my esteemed guests holding little Lillian Jaleh who came along with her dad and contributed a great deal of joy and wisdom to that particular meeting.

"Children are the most precious treasure a community can possess, for in them are the promise and guarantee of the future. They bear the seeds of the character of a future society which is largely shaped by what the adults constituting the community do or fail to do with resepect to children. They are a trust no community can neglect with impunity. An all-embracing love of children, the manner of treating them, the quality of the attention shown to them, the spirt of adult behavior towards them--these are all among the vital aspects of the requisite attitude." (Universal House of Justice, Ridvan 2000).

I have also been holding weekly devotional gatherings in my apartment on Thursday nights. At a recent gathering, Bryn and I shared readings from family heirlooms.

She has a lovely book that belonged to her grandmother, the World Bible. She read an excerpt from the Koran from it.

I have a book that belonged to my mother entitled "The Pattern of Baha'i Life". It has a stamp in it from the "Baha'i World Congress London 1963" and is inscribed "Naw Ruz 121 To our dear Baha'i sister Aili, Eino and Sonja". In several places my mother has underlined words and penciled in Finnish translations. One such passage which I read on this particular occasion goes as follows:

"The world is but a show, vain and empty, a mere nothing, bearing the semblance of reality. Set not your affections upon it...Verily I say, the world is like a vapour in the desert, which the thirsty dreameth to be water and striveth after it with all his might, until when he cometh unto it, he findeth it to be mere illusion..." Baha'u'llah