The Sunflower

THE SUNFLOWER

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This story came to me while driving home from work yesterday.  My other children's stories were on the subject of the Seven Valleys, a book by Bahá'u'lláh.  I was not sure where the next story would lead.  I have ideas that I work with from time to time, however, when an idea like this one comes along it just flows out and is done.  I hope you enjoy it.

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It was a beautiful day, breakfast was good and now Luis was helping his mother with the dishes.  There was still a bit of time before he had to go to his children’s class.  Luis and his family lived in a small house surrounded by large fields.  He would walk past the flowers and vegetables on his way to school every day.  Today Luis had a question for his mother.  It had been in his mind all week, but now that his classes would start soon he needed to ask his question.

“Mama,” Luis said

“Yes dear,” responded his mother.

“We started to memorize a prayer last week,” he said, “and I have a question.”

“What is your question little one,” answered his mother.

“Why do we pray?” said Luis a bit timidly.  “I mean,” he added quickly, “I talk to God but He does not answer me.”

His mother thought for a moment as she was cleaning.  She looked out the kitchen window to the fields and then, after a moment said “Luis,” she said, “what can you tell me about those flowers in the field?”

“They are sunflowers mama,” responded Luis.

“What  is special about them?,” she asked.

He thought for a moment and then responded, “They turn towards the sun all day long.”

“Very good Hijo,” she said.

“Do you know why they turn to the sun?” she asked.

Luis was remembering how the sunflowers would be pointed at one direction when he would go to school but that on the way home they would be pointed in another direction.  He thought of this for a moment and then answered his mother.

“So that the light will help them grow.” 

It was at this point that his mother went quiet and busied herself.  Luis knew that she wanted to give him time to think of what he just said and what it meant.  After a little pause his mother dried her hands and sat at the table.  She gestured to Luis who came and sat in her lap.

“Little one,” she said, “we are like the sunflowers and the sun is like God.  To grow we need the sun.  The sun shines all the time but it reaches the sunflowers mostly when they turn towards the sun.  All they have to do is keep towards the sun and they will grow.  We turn towards God by praying and reading His writings.  God still shines His love and Blessings to all of His creation, but it is our turning to Him that allows us to grow more fully.  Recognition came to Luis’s eyes and his mother tousled his hair.

“Time to go to your class,” she said.

Luis jumped down to the floor and hurried off to get his books.  He could not wait to go to his class and share with them what he had just learned.

As he rushed down the hall his mother looked at him and then the flowers and smiled contently.

-Shiidon, November 22, 2008

Looking Back

LOOKING BACK

Sitting by

While work’s to be done

Is an action from me, unbecome

 

Reflect back on times past

At what point do we cry “alas”

What would I do to change that day

To arise and serve in some small way

 

So much to be done

so much in the end left undone

for every person to arise

tenfold  the opportunities

I do surmise

 

Look around and do not rest

For in this day, this is our test

Reaching out for us to do our best

 

Go out and stand a bit

Look left and right

And do not sit

For with open eyes you will see

many a chance, an opportunity

 

surrounding us are those in need

waiting for us to take heed

whether it is food, shelter or hope

they look towards a way to cope

to help is clearly within our scope

 

we can look around for who will arise

or look within and not compromise

stand and watch life go by

or roll up sleeves and do not self deny

 

And in the end when we look back

Do we see how much, we did lack

Or do we say when need did show

we arose and to help did go

-Shiidon, November 2008

In this poem I am trying to explain in some way how I see things.  Daily I reflect on how fleeting this life truly is.  As each year speeds by it is more and more clear to me how little time we truly have in this World.  Our life is like a roller coaster.  We start out slow climbing a hill at a snails pace knowing but not realizing how fast and fleeting the rest of the journey will be.  Well, in some way, I am racing down that roller coasters fast turns and loops.

Reading the Bahá'í Writings tells me that time is a man made construct.  That our souls are eternal and indeed they are in that realm above now, it is our sense of awareness that is "trapped" here in this world.  Dreams are that chance for those lines to be obscured in some small way.  So, in my minds eye, I see myself looking down at my here and now.  I then ask myself, is this how you want to remember this moment?  Do you want to say that while someone was wanting within your reach you did nothing but sit and self  indulge?  It is the essence of what drives me at any and all times.  It is why my first question is always, what can I do to help.  This is my reality.  I do not transpose this onto others.  In fact, when I see people happy doing whatever they are doing it brings peace and joy to my heart.  I do not reflect on what it is they do or do not do.  And except for the explanation in this blog entry, I do talk about this.

There was a time when I was much younger that I did things and enjoyed the praise or kind words of those who noticed.  The flip side of this was when someone would not notice I would be disappointed or let down.  Then one day it came to me, I read a quote from 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of Bahá'u'lláh and the perfect exemplar in the Bahá'í Faith.  He said to see His face in others.  To do service for the sake of God Himself.  Afterwards I realized that, say when opening a door for someone, I no longer cared whether or not it was acknowledged.  I then began to realize that it did not matter if anyone knew of any act of service I performed.  In fact, I have reached a point where I would rather not hear those words that I longed for in my youth.  I find it uncomfortable to have my actions commented on.  For I realize that we ALL actually do these things for each other and within the scopes of our abilities.  The fact that some are more visible than others is not a reflection of whether or not anyone is taking steps to arise and serve.  Parents with their children, spouses striving for unity in a disunited world, friends helping friends that no one will ever see.  This poem is from and for all of us.

Drifting Off

DRIFTING OFF

As I lay awaiting sleep

Thoughts within my mind

Begin to creep

The pains of the day

Have dug deep

 

Sorrows expressed, one by one

hopes lost, other tests begun

will the next news

leave me all alone

 

as each conversation, I recall

into place, the pieces fall

each sorrow is answered

with a tale of joy

a hope, a promise

a prayer doth call

 

The scales of the world

Weigh heavy today

Towards the darkness and those

who've lost their way

So easy it would be to allow it to hold its sway

 

The time has come to reach out

Grab hope and shout

The light of two, greater than one

the spreading of hope hath begun

 

though the sorrows expressed to me

still linger to a small degree

It is the hope from one to another

That permits me to be at ease

 

As I drift off and away

Soon to face another day

Hope and joy will show the way

And on the morrow

When darkness loom

A new flower of hope will bloom

And day by day will show

An ever expanding garden doth grow

-Shiidon, November 2008

This poem is the result of two events.  The struggle of a friends in healing and the ups and downs of the conversations with customers and friends over the last week.

It has been a bit since my last posting.  There has been much going on and it has been at times overwhelming.  Just after the doctors had to go into my head and do their work, it was time for them to go into the one of my closest and dearest friends.  For some time now I have watched the miracles of life and what amazes me is how much we take for granted.  For example, as serious as things were for him, I have almost never seen him more happy than the two weeks before surgery.  The second test was to be told "don't tell anyone."  Yikes.  Well the other miracles started happening.  People would come into the story that had not been present for some time and would find out with the understanding that prayers were needed and hope.  Slowly a network of friends, community, family and business associates grew.  The time came for the surgery.  I watched the election of a new President.  From that morning to the time I woke up the next morning the surgery was ongoing.  It was 22 hours of what had to be the most complicated and meticulous work imagined.  That day a phone call arrived threatening to leave me alone.  Emails went out for more prayers and by that night the most glorious phone call arrived, it was a very exhausted voice, a voice I was told I might not hear again, saying "Alláh-u-Abhá. (God is the Most Glorious)"  While I trust in God, it is the uncertainty of what is His will in any given situation that makes it difficult at times for me.  The amount of love and prayers that went out for my dear friend were truly inspiring.  From the Shrines in the Holy Land, to friends and family all over the World the waves and waves of prayers and good thoughts were sent in his direction.  I look forward to spending time with my dear friend and his family.  In two weeks it is Thanksgiving in the United States.  This year i have something special to give thanks for.

I have cried a lot these past days and recently tears of joy.  Each day at work I am seeing the results of more and more tests and difficulties being heaped on my fellow human, brother sister.  We still somehow find a way to turn the conversation to more positive things and in doing so, make the day that much better.  If we leave an interaction with another in either a positive or negative way it effects the way we approach others for that day.  We are able to either bring a ray of sunlight or add to the despondency that is threatening like clouds of doom all around.  I truly believe that the warmth of each heart connecting will eventually burn off those clouds that are looming over all of us today.

One last note.  This dearest and closest friend shares another interesting thing with me.  The photograph on this post is of my grandfather in Kashan, Iran early last century.  He is the one in the center with a circle around him.  One person over and down is my dear friends grandfather.  I recently discovered this photos significance in that two generations ago his grandfather and mine were in the same community.  They probably never had any idea that their grandsons would be good friends and work together.