LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!!!

Every year at Ridvan (a term meaning paradise and a period marking Baha'u'llah's declaration of His mission and station) the Universal House of Justice addresses a letter to the worldwide Bahai community.  This is usually a letter of encouragement and guidance; of delineating the learnings thus gained and tracing the path to follow.  So today I finally carved out some time to sit and study the newest Ridvan letter which was 11 pages long (the longest to date!) and friends....HOLY SMOKES.

My heart rushed with excitement, my eyes filled with tears and my spirit danced with joy at the soul-stirring words of the beloved House of Justice.

People often ask me what I've learned from being here; or what I've gained the most from this experience.  Although there are many many innumerable blessings associated with being here, without a doubt, for me, the most significant blessing of them all has been a newfound love and appreciation for the Universal House of Justice.  I did not think it was possible to love an institution so much, and I did not think it was possible for me to love both the institution and its members more than I already did, but today that love grew in leaps and bounds.

That letter...oh my.  OH MY.

I just feel uninhibited, unrestrained, unbridled, abounding, insane LOVE for the House of Justice right now.  

LOVE LOVE LOVE.

****

An excerpt from the letter:

Dear Friends: How often did the Beloved Master express the hope that the hearts of the believers would overflow with love for one another, that they would abide no lines of separation but would regard all of humanity even as one family. "See ye no strangers," is His exhortation; "rather see all men as friends, for love and unity come hard when ye fix your gaze on otherness." All of the developments examined in the preceding pages are, at the most profound level, but an expression of universal love achieved through the power of the Holy Spirit. For is it not love for God that burns away all veils of estrangement and division and binds hearts together in perfect unity? Is it not His love that spurs you on in the field of service and enables you to see in every soul the capacity to know Him and to worship Him? Are you not galvanized by the knowledge that His Manifestation gladly endured a life of suffering out of His love for humanity? Look within your own ranks, at your dear Bahá'í brothers and sisters in Iran. Do they not exemplify fortitude born of the love of God and the desire to serve Him? Does not their capacity to transcend the cruelest and most bitter persecution bespeak the capacity of millions upon millions of oppressed people of the world to arise and take a decisive part in building the Kingdom of God on earth? Undeterred by divisive social constructs, press on and bring Bahá'u'lláh's message to waiting souls in every urban neighbourhood, in every rural hamlet, in every corner of the globe, drawing them to His community, the community of the Greatest Name. Never do you leave our thoughts and prayers, and we will continue to implore the Almighty to reinforce you with His wondrous grace.