Work is Worship

"Work done in the spirit of service is the highest form of worship."-Abdu'l-Baha

I've heard this quote many times in my life, and it never resonated with me, nor did I understand it, until now. The last couple of weeks I've really felt the essence of this quote in me. As I've written, I do a lot of different jobs, and so I'm pretty much always busy and pretty much always exhausted by the end of the day. But I'm happy. I feel like I'm on a different level. I feel like my soul is being fed food it's never had before. I'm on a spiritual high.

What the quote means to me is that, when you're working, if you have the mindset that you're working for the betterment of humanity, and that you're contributing to your work place by working together with your fellow colleagues, you are serving God. You are worshiping God and you're elevating your spiritual status by doing work.

I primarily work in the office now, and even though I have about 4 jobs in the offices, I'm in one place, I don't feel like I'm bouncing around from job to job as I previously felt (another answered prayer perhaps!). And I can distinctly remember, it was about a week ago, when I realized how spiritually uplifted and stable and joyous I felt after that weeks work! I can't pinpoint the feeling or adequately describe what I felt, but it's something that I've never felt before. Even though I was super tired from the work day and felt like I couldn't possibly have energy to go to an event that night, I felt accomplished yet humble, centered not scattered...uplifted. It was then that I truly felt like I understood the quote- by working, even though it may be filing or photocopying or mailing out the new membership cards to the whole of Australia (13,000 thank you very much! and we finished this week!!), I am serving Baha'u'llah, I am serving the Faith, I am worshiping God. How fulfilling is that?! :)

So, Australia is getting HOT! It only (only...) got up to 30C this week and I was dyyyyiiinnnngggg. It was humid, yet dry (don't know how that works) and it just felt like I couldn't get cool. This summer is going to be a test. Let's pray, shall we? :) I haven't seen a snake yet, probably means it's not hot enough for them to come roaming around my house yet, so when I do, I'll let you guys know. Hopefully pictures will be part of that post haha. My mom is visiting me for 2 weeks, along with a close family friend, and it's been nice to have a familiar face around. I haven't been homesick, which is good since I've been itching to get out of home for a while now, but mom's are always nice to have around when you're in a different environment. We're heading off to Canberra today (the capital city) for the weekend, Mom's going to be driving...let us pray for that too! Hopefully we'll see some nice sights and sounds of the capital- they have a tulip festival going on that's suppose to be gorgeous, so I hope we get to do that!! Then next week we'll be going to New Zealand for a couple of days. Here's to hoping that I get to go on a hot air balloon ride!!!! Woop!! =D

"It is enjoined upon every one of you to engage in some form of occupation...We have graciously exalted your engagement in such work to the rank of worship unto God, the True One... Waste not your time in idleness and sloth. Occupy yourselves with that which profiteth yourselves and others...The most despised of men in the sight of God are those who sit idly and beg... When anyone occupieth himself in a craft or trade, such occupation itself is regarded in the estimation of God as an act of worship; and this is naught but a token of His infinite and all-pervasive bounty."- Baha'u'llah

"Work, especially when performed in the spirit of service, is according to Bahá'u'lláh, a form of worship. It has not only a utilitarian purpose, but has a value in itself, because it draws us nearer to God, and enables to better grasp His purpose for us in this world."- Shoghi Effendi (Abdu'l-Baha's grandson, who appointed him the Guardian of the Faith, and authorized interpretor of the Writings, after His passing)

Start of Year 22nd!

I've been in Australia for 2 months now and it's been fabulous. There have been ups and downs, as any situation has, but right now, I feel like I'm in a really good place, very centered and focused. I've been busy and tired, so it's been a little hard to keep up with the writing, but I want to do it, so I'm going to try harder!

Here are some photos from my 22nd birthday!!! Will have a new post of my recent adventures very soon :) Love to all!!!!

I woke up to these 5 signs facing my room!

...from my fun-loving roommate Emmy :)

The pashmina is from my other roommate Betty, the chocolates and the coupon book from Jess, and the jewlery and Baha'i Prayer Book from Philipp, who left for Germany just days before. Apparently Julian is sending me a German cow by post :) So thoughtful and I love every single one of them.

Jess!

At the 19 Day Feast, the community sang to me and I got to blow out candles. So sweet and thoughtful. I was really touched :)

Azah and Vafa took me out for delicious Thai food after Feast. Was so full but soooo happy!

The next day, the office staff (some pictured) sang me "Happy Birthday" and gave me a little cake (I was off on my birthday so it happened the next day while I was working in Membership) I was very pleasantly surprised!!

It was such a yummy cake!!!! Love it.

Can you taste the awesomeness?!

Reflections

It's my last night of being 21, and I've got to say, I'm a little sad!!! Year 21 was not the best and I'm determined to make 22 better. Even though age is only a number, I can't help but feel like my years are flying by!!! There is so much I want to do, and I already feel like there isn't much time. I think my birthday has just crept up on me, I'm not prepared at all. Someone asked me how old I am today and I answered “21”, and then it kinda hit me, it set in, that that was the last time I was going to be able to say that.....oh lord!

While I've been serving, I've started to realize that my prayers have been answered one by one, and it's amazing that I've been able to recognize that! One thing that has always baffled me about prayer is that I can't seem to recognize or figure out when a prayer has been answered, or when an opportunity has come up because of a prayer, even though I've always believed that prayer has power. So it's very exciting that I've recognized that certain things have come up because of me asking/praying. Some examples are as follows:

1. I was really nervous about the fact that I have to learn to cook for myself, so I half heartedly joked, but was a bit serious, when I hoped for roommates that love to cook. My first couple of weeks were gold. I had 4 roommates (out of 6) that cooked all the time. Now they're all gone and I do have to learn to cook a bit, but it took away so much stress during a stressful first couple of weeks to have roommates that wanted to cook :)

2. Socializing was a big concern for me before I came; I was really nervous about having to make a good first impression and really making some life-long friends. In any situation, I think you need a good support group and a couple of really close friends are always nice to have around because they are going to be the people you go to when you have a problem. I've met some wonderful people here, and the bond that we have is indescribable. My roommates Betty and Emmy are so easy to get along with, and one of the community youth, Jess, and I get along really well. I'm so incredibly happy and relieved to have friends that I feel I can talk to and hang with and be silly with. I didn't want my own insecurities to become a barrier for me to make friends, and I'm still working on that, but I think so far I've done a pretty good job...thank you Baha'u'llah!!!

3. One of my goals for my year of service period is to become deepened and well-read in the Baha'i Writings. Reading has never been something I really enjoy, but I desperately want to know the Faith inside and out- I want to teach it with eloquence and accuracy and humility, I want to be detached from my own insecurities and my own fear of not knowing my own faith when I teach. Answer to my prayer? I was sent to work in the bookstore. I didn't figure this one out until a couple of days ago, when all of a sudden it dawned on me that I have a vast selection of Baha'i Writings, reference books, history books, biographies, social science topics and so much more at my finger tips every Saturday! Usually weekends are slow too, so it's a perfect time killer for me to read up and to really knowledge myself in these books. When I was first put in the bookstore I felt a little “ugh, it's kinda slow and I have nothing to do”, but when this revelation revealed itself, it was like “woah! It's an answer to a prayer and I only figure it out now?” :)

4. Another goal of mine for this year is to really focus on knowing myself. I've felt disconnected from myself for a really long time. It's a hard thing to explain, but it's very troubling to be in, because you are you, yet, you don't know you. So when a 6-week workshop came up about “learning your color dynamic”, I thought it sounded interesting and joined. Little did I know that it was a workshop about learning how you process information and solve problems, and how you receive and work with the data the world is giving you. Exactly what I need and want. To choose your color dynamic, you have to know yourself, and belive me, I had a really hard time with choosing a color, but I realized right away that this is what I was asking for- an opportunity to learn about myself, my strengths, my weaknesses, what I like, what I don like, what I want in relationships, what I want in life- all of which are covered in this workshop! Very briefly, there are 3 aspects to how one processes information- emotional, mental, and physical. The different combinations (mental-emotional, physical-emotional...etc) are the different color groups, and each group is missing one aspect, and the workshop is to get you to understand how you process life and how you can get that other aspect in balance with the other two, so that in the end, you are a balanced (emotional-mental-physical) person. It's so incredibly interesting, and the other perk to it is that it is facilitated by the Secretary of the NSA (the governing body of Australia). These opportunities don't happen anywhere for anyone.

I feel so insanely happy to have recognized that my prayers have been heard and that there are opportunities being presented to me to help me better myself and to work on the fields of Ailene I want to work on. I really feeling like I'm serving, and I'm in a dream state, feeling like I can do anything. Thank you to all who are reading, I don't know who all of you are, but I'm so happy people are “listening” and learning (hopefully) from my posts. I am praying for you all and I hope your prayers are answered too.

...3, 2, 1, midnight! September 7th...happy birthday to me :)