Love

Story of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Once, when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was in America, He told the Friends that He wanted to go to the zoo. They tried to explain to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that it wasn’t a good time because it was spring and many of the animals had just given birth, and they would be hiding in their houses taking care of their babies.  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá insisted… so they went to the zoo. Once there, He told the Friends to wait behind, and as He approached each cage the mothers in the cages would bring out their babies to show ‘Abdu’l-Bahá!! His love attracted them!

We can show love through acts of kindness.

Story

What Is the Color of Love?

Some say that love is the color of a rose

– a beautiful, deep-pink rose. Shall I tell you why?

There was once a little boy named Tommy. Tommy was not a big, strong, handsome boy. He was very thin. His family was very poor. So Tommy often went to bed hungry because there wasn’t enough to eat.

He had rather colorless pale hair and a very pale face. But he did have a lovely smile that showed in his eyes as well as on his lips. Everybody liked Tommy because of that lovely, smiling way of his when he talked and played with his friends.

His teacher liked him, too. She always had a kind word for him. Often she asked him to stay after school for a little treat of some kind in the way of a cookie, or an orange. She hoped it would build him up a bit.

Tommy loved his teacher very much. He wished he could give her something to show his love. But he had no money to buy a gift. What was he to do?

He began thinking very hard. These are the thoughts he had:

“Love makes me feel happy. It makes me want to do something nice, to give something nice to the one I love. Love is a warm feeling about someone.

“Warmth makes me think of a fire on the hearth. Fire is a warm, happy, rosy glow.”

And that’s how Tommy began to think about a rose for the teacher he loved!

But how and where to get one was something else. At that point he remembered what his mother had once told him. She had said, “God loves all of his creatures. Even the littlest bird is important to Him.”

And that’s how Tommy remembered to ask God to help him!

The next morning he got up early. After eating the little bowl of warm cereal his mother had ready for him, he started out sure that something special was about to happen. There was a chill in the air and he shivered. He noticed how the leaves were beginning to fall from the trees. Winter was on its way.

He was about to pass a little, yellow house

when he noticed an old lady standing at the

door. She was looking at all the leaves as they

fell on her walk and shaking her head.

Tommy marched right over to her and said, smiling, “Good morning. Would you like to have me rake the leaves from your walk?”

“Why, thank you so much. That would be so kind of you and such a help to me. I’ll be glad to pay you for it.”

Tommy set to work. The walk ran around to the back of the house. When he had finished, he looked at the pretty garden in the back yard. What do you think he saw? A big bush of deep-pink roses!

Tommy was very excited. He knocked at the back door. The lady opened it right away and held out a shiny coin and said, “You did a fine job; thank you, my little friend.”

Tommy said, “Thanks just the same, but would you please give me one of your beautiful roses instead?”

The old lady smiled at him and then went over to the bush and cut three of the long stemmed, lovely, pink roses. She insisted that he take the coin, too. Tommy’s smile and good manners had made her like him very much.

The teacher exclaimed with pleasure when Tommy gave her the roses. “These are the loveliest, pink roses I’ve ever seen! Thank you, thank you!

She put them in a vase of water and all day she and Tommy and all the children enjoyed their beauty. The whole room was filled with their fragrance. It was the fragrance of love.

Tommy says that the color of love is a beautiful,

deep pink.

(by Roslyn Lightblau; The Child’s Way magazine, no. 87, May-June 1963)

Song

If you search for “青森バハイ共同体（Aomori Bahai Community）” on Youtube, you can find some songs which were learned in the children’s class. You can find this song by searching for “青森バハイ共同体　愛（Aomori Bahai Community Love）”

Coloring

1. Read this quote with your child, and discuss what it means.

2. Ask your child to pretend that they are a famous artist like Michelangelo…

3. Imagine how would they paint this quote in images, on a big canvas….

4. Have your child describe what that wonderful painting would look like….

5. Give the child paper and paints, or crayons and have them try to reproduce what was in their imagination…explaining that now they are at the foundation of being that great artist, the very beginnings. So it is just the start to what they someday could accomplish.  But if we never start on a journey we will never get there.

Let’s challenge!!

Let’s read the message from the Universal House of Justice

☆ What is the Universal House of Justice??

The Universal House of Justice is a nine-member body, elected every five years by the entire membership of all national Bahá’í assemblies. Bahá’u’lláh conferred divine authority upon the Universal House of Justice to exert a positive influence on the welfare of humankind, promote education, peace and global prosperity, and safeguard human honour and the position of religion. It is charged with applying the Bahá’í teachings to the requirements of an ever-evolving society and is thus empowered to legislate on matters not explicitly covered in the Faith’s Sacred Texts.

☆ What is the message of Universal House of Justice for?

This message was issued at the end of last year (December 30, 2021) and will provide guidance for the next few years. From this message we can learn what we should do to create a better world. Messages from the Universal House of Justice are always full of “love”.

Read the second paragraph of the December 31, 2021 message. You don’t have to try to understand everything. Read it with your parents and think about it.

Bahá’u’lláh states that “the purpose for which mortal men have, from utter nothingness, stepped into the realm of being, is that they may work for the betterment of the world and live together in concord and harmony.”  He has revealed teachings that make this possible.  Building a society that consciously pursues this collective purpose is the work of not only this generation, but of many generations to come, and Bahá’u’lláh’s followers welcome all who labour alongside them in this undertaking.  It means learning how to raise up vibrant, outward-looking communities; it means those communities learning how to bring about spiritual and material progress; it means learning how to contribute to the discourses that influence the direction of that progress.  These areas of endeavour are, naturally, familiar ones.  Seen from one perspective, they are quite distinct, each having its own characteristics and imperatives.  Yet they all represent ways of awakening the energies latent in the human soul and channelling them towards the betterment of society.  Together, they are means of releasing what the Guardian described as “the society-building power” of the Faith.  This inherent power possessed by the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh is visible even in the fledgling efforts of a Bahá’í community learning to serve humanity and promote the Word of God.  And though the world society foreshadowed in His Revelation is of course far distant, communities that are earnestly learning to apply His teachings to their social reality abound.  How immensely blessed are those souls who, alive to the greatness of this Day and the significance of their actions, strive for the emergence of a society shaped by the divine teachings.

・ What is the purpose for which humans were born?

• What do Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings make possible?

・ There are three things we should learn from now on; what are they?

・ What will happen if we learn these things?

・ What kind of contribution can we make to create a better world from now on?

To the Parents

Q＆A

Q : How shall I overcome seeing the faults of others—recognizing the wrong in others?

A : Whenever you recognize the fault of another, think of yourself—What are my imperfections? —and try to remove them. Do this whenever you are tested through the words or deeds of others. Thus, you will grow, become more perfect. You will overcome self; you will not even have time to think of the faults of others…    From Star of the West