“Let the flame of the love of God burn brightly within your radiant hearts.
Feed it with the oil of Divine guidance, and protect it within the shelter of your constancy.
Guard it within the globe of trust and detachment from all else but God, so that the evil whisperings of the ungodly may not extinguish its light.”
~ Bahá’u’lláh, From the Arabic Hidden Words / 5
Often, we forget our worth and inherent value. We attach our worth to the opinions of those we hold dear to our hearts and question whether we are good enough, worthy enough and deserving enough of our deepest and truest desires. Most times, we are driven by our need to be loved and accepted and to have a sense of security within another. To feel validated and affirmed. Every single person craves validation and affirmation in some sense. I mean, that is why social media is so popular. We are addicted to the superficial approval of those we hold in high esteem and prioritize “likes” over our own assurance and self-knowledge.
Before, I wrote this piece I was journaling in my notebook. I did not expect my journal entry to provide so much insight. I started contemplating on how we question our worth and value because of those we hold in high regard. We compare ourselves to the happenings in their lives or we wonder if we mean as much to them as what they mean to us.
I often get caught up in the nostalgia of the past. I get lost in the memories and I am a creature of habit. I hold on when I really should let go and find myself clutching and grasping on how things “should” have been. Or at least how I think it should have been. But when we get caught in the trap of looking at the past through rose-coloured glasses, we fail to see the significance of our growth and progress and how all those interesting experiences cultivated our growth. Each moment of each day, we have bestowed the good fortune of choosing a different thought, a different feeling, and a new way of being.
We underestimate the power of observing the flow of our thoughts on a piece of paper and the clarity we gain from expressing our true and unfiltered selves. We are driven by our emotional states of being and by expressing our thoughts authentically through writing, we create the opportunity to notice our habitual thoughts and feelings. My journal is filled with scribbles of ideas and questions and just ponderings I have about anything related to love and life and joy and well-being. I am probably at my happiest when I am in my writing zone. The only experience that tops being in the “flow” state is my daily experience of prayer and worship. It is through these states that I can navigate the natural quest of self-discovery.
Humans often fear one thing in particular: rejection. Or abandonment. Maybe a combination of both. I am not sure if they are the same thing, but I am convinced it’s painful to experience either of those two things. The most hurtful form of rejection and abandonment is when we inflict it upon ourselves. We think we are seeking acceptance and presence from others, but we are hoping to find some sort of fulfilment and satisfaction that can only be granted internally. We lose ourselves in various forms of distractions and end up with meaningless moments of apathy and a silent sense of lacking purpose.
When we are tested by life, we tend to question whether God loves us (I prefer the term “God” but feel free to substitute according to your beliefs as you please as in the Universe/the Divine Mother etc.). We try and twist the Higher Power into giving us what we want without recognizing that we cannot see the complete picture of our lives. We simply do not know what is around the corner of our journey. We forget that the purpose of our life here on earth is to acquire the spiritual skills and virtues that are needed for us to thrive and flourish in the worlds beyond this realm. It is almost like we are in a school for the soul, and we are all being refined and perfected according to our spiritual needs and deficiencies. When you truly love something or someone you wish them nothing but exponential growth. That is how God feels about us. And when we place our perception of our worth and value in His hands instead of others, we experience a presence of peace that cannot be described.
God has the greatest capacity to love and know us and He knows all our needs and desires. He places each person and experience we need to encounter to grow into the healthiest and greatest versions of ourselves. The learnings we gather are invaluable and give us a sneak peek of our capacity to endure and conquer. If we fall short, we can pick dust ourselves off, evaluate our “mistakes” and try again. We can set the intention to do better and trust that all the divine assistance we need will be granted with ease. In this life, it is about getting comfortable with the uncomfortable as the only constant is change. Our growing pains frustrate us, but we can always implore the Divine for assistance. We think our prayers and pleas are unanswered, but their influence has a surprising tendency to activate changes in our seemingly unfavourable conditions.
We are searching for safety. We do our best to nurture and protect our inner child, but ultimately true protection comes from God. When we abide within His love, we shift our focus from external validation to holy vindication. No one’s love can cover me the way God does. It would be foolish to place the sustenance of our soul in anyone other than God. Relying on anything outside of the Realm of the Divine would be considered spiritual suicide. And maybe the reason why God allows certain sufferings is because He wants us to see this. To see how being attached to anything or anyone but God fosters deficiency. It is our responsibility to prioritize. To put people and things in their proper place.
Whenever something toxic resides on the throne of our hearts, we lose track of our purpose. Each person’s purpose is specialized and designed according to their strengths and God knows the secrets of our hearts. He knows how to align our souls in a way that glorifies Him. He regards us as infinitely precious, and it is only through His grace and mercy and our conscious awareness that we appreciate His immeasurable bounty. This awareness creates a fragrance within our soul that attracts all His divine confirmations. What is meant for you, finds you because you are tuning into the frequency of His eternal and sacred love. You nurture your scented soul into an instrument that can serve the highest good of all. Your soul releases a faithful fragrance and influences the establishment of an ever-advancing civilization. We become inspired through Divine guidance and follow our spirit’s natural impulse to serve and facilitate Godly bliss. Through God’s perfect love, we are freed from the prisons of fear and doubt and can repose within the paradise of His presence.
