Bahais Online 
Thousands of words are written about God and they all fall short. But that doesn't stop our attempts to step onto the pages where 'the ink leaves only a blot'.
Here is that most refined of mystics, St John of the Cross:
I discovered recently something new about the 'God sufficeth' prayer revealed by the Bab. The full version of the prayer appears on page 123 of Selections from the Writings of the Bab.
"Say: God sufficeth all things above all things, and nothing in the heavens or in the earth or in whatever lieth between them but God, thy Lord, sufficeth. Verily, He is in Himself the Knower, the Sustainer, the Omnipotent."
What I didn't know is that, in Persian Bayan 9:6, the Bab says that if a person recites this prayer 314 times, any question that person may have will be answered. Well, that is a very succinct comment on what the Bab actually says, but I don't have a translation of it, sorry.
There are so many things that we just take for granted in our life.
{josquote}I was thinking, instead, about the fact that we only seem to use the revealed prayers.{/josquote}For all of our existence, we've taken the earth for granted, and are only now beginning to be aware of just how fragile life can be. Many of us take our food, shelter, friends and even family for granted. Of course, throughout history, and even today, many of us don't, but I'm speaking in general here. We've always been reminded to be grateful for what we have, to be aware of the gifts that are bestowed upon us, as they say.
This is going to be a mad summer for me, full of grant applications for neweurasia, doctorate discussions with professors here at Leuven, writing articles for academic journals, and beginning next week, starting a temporary job scrubbing toilets and mowing lawns from the break of morning into the afternoon. Yes, the man who just appeared on al-Jazeera last night will be a full-time groundskeeper and janitor for a month to help pay his bills.
Does it bother me? At the level of ego, of course it does: survival may dictate that I do this, but yes, it feels very much like abasement. At the level of the spirit, however, it doesnt: because perhaps in some way I need to do be brought to my knees at this moment quite literally, considering the number of toilets Ill be scrubbing.
In practical terms, however, it may very well mean that this blog is going to be somewhat silent for the next month. Short though the job may be, it shall be time consuming. Although the previous times Ive made such a prediction I always ended up blogging more, nevertheless, circumstances have put me in a reflective mood about this blog, and blogging in general. Why am I doing this?
I beseech Thee, O Lord of all being and Possessor of things visible and invisible, to bestow on me a righteous child so it may remember Thee on Thine earth and glorify Thee throughout Thy realm. If Thou maketh me by this tablet independent of every trace, fruit, and mention, my prayer at that time would be that which Thy chosen ones have uttered: Lord, leave me not alone, for Thou art the best of Heirs.
Bahau'llah, quoted in Amr wa Khalq, 4:69. The quote is from Quran 21:89 in which Zechariah asks God to cure his wifes infertility.
