How Does One Show Gratitude?

Recently I've expressed how incredibly grateful and blessed I feel to be able to be in Australia- to spend New Years Eve by the Harbour; to attend the youth conference; to be able to go to Samoa in February.

But then it dawned on me, how is this gratitude shown?

Yes, I feel thankful and so humbled, and I feel like God has blessed me with these opportunities, but how do I show my appreciation and true gratitude?

Arise and Serve and Ignite the World

Last weekend Australia held a national youth conference. Around 800 people in total attended, and it was such a fantastic conference- well organized, intriguing topics, phenomenal speakers, and a lovely and loving atmosphere. The conference really honed in and focused on what the role of Baha'i youth are (what youth in general are destined to do) which is tohelp ignite the hearts of those around them, to assist in the education of children and pre-teens, with the words of Baha'u'llah; to help all realize their true station, that we are spiritual beings created noble, with the reason for being here on earth is to recognize our Creator and through that build our spiritual capacities and help our society advance into a better civilization.

This wasn't all that clear to me until this weekend. After attending workshops and listening to talks, I realized that being a good Baha'i isn't just abiding by the basic laws (praying, Fasting...etc), what it is is to make the word of Baha'u'llah available to those around me, to teach the Faith as a service to humanity because the Faith is an eternal truth- that we are spiritual beings longing to be connected to our Creator. It was said that we are not going out trying to make people Baha'is, we are just trying to assist the growth and development of humanity through the teachings of spirituality, and that really resonated with me. Baha'is are seeking to offer that service through study of the Creative Word (Ruhi courses, first book looks at the purpose of life, progress of the soul and life after death

), childrens classes (taught with Baha'i inspired moral education material), Junior Youth Empowerment Programs (Baha'i inspired material that focuses on developing pre-teens' ability to recognize spiritual forces, to articulate concepts with clarity and to develop the concept of morality), and devotional gatherings (gatherings that consist of collective worship to awaken spiritual susceptibilities). All these activities, after being part of them for numerous years, finally became clear to me, and their purpose magnified.

The governing body of the Baha'i Faith, The Universal House of Justice, ordained by Baha'u'llah (the founder of the Baha'i Faith), wrote to the youth attending just a day before the conference, expressing that we are convening “at a moment of unprecedented opportunity and need "and that we "have been assigned the responsibility to show forth...values in [our] lives, so that [we] can be a source of attraction and illumination to those seeking direction within the turmoil of the society..." and "central to [our] role in the present day is to give new vigor to the concept of service". Youth these days are presented with so much pressure from society to act and show forth values that are not in coherence to who we really are. Society has skewed the view of what beauty is, what service is, what unity is. Service isn't donating money, service is looking at your environment and seeking out the areas that need attention and trying to address those needs hands on.

If any of this is resonating, if these concepts are true to what you believe in, I would like to discuss it further with you!

Over all it was an exhausting (7am to midnight for 4 days) but invigorating weekend. It was focused, mentally challenging, intellectual, social, and I loved it :)

Blessed to see Fireworks at Sydney Harbour!!!!

It was seriously spectacular and I feel so incredibly lucky that I am able to be here to witness it. A bunch of friends went to a friends house for dinner and dancing and then about 25 of us set out to find a destination to watch the world's first major New Year celebration. We got there about 11pm (1 hr to go!) and walked for about 30 minutes trying to find a good spot to see the whole harbour. We got soooo lucky and found a ledge to sit on (after a lot of climbing) and were able to see the Harbour Bridge, the city and the Opera House. It was soooooo epic, I cannot adequately describe it. It was a late late night but so incredibly worth it. This post will have to be short because I'm off to a youth conference tomorrow and the next couple of weeks will be super duper busy, but wanted to give you guys some pictures to look at. Hope you like and I'll try to keep up with this blog better!

lots of love!