Rediscovering Baha'u'llah

I was thinking I should write more in this blog, in case someone reads it some day, but I didn't know what to write about. Now I have a long list of things to write about from my previous post.

I was feeling something missing in my life, that I associate with turning to Baha'u'llah. I don't know how to describe it, except with some phrases from His writings, like "'the shade of Thy protecting wings," "the sweet-scented streams of Thine eternity," "the crystal springs of Thy love," "the shadow of Thine everlasting providence," "the meadows of Thy nearness," "the fragrant breezes of Thy joy," "the heights of the paradise of Thy reality," "the melodies of the dove of Thy oneness," "the garden of Thine immortality," "the Day-Star of Thy guidance."

So, maybe it would help me to memorize that prayer?

I've felt this way before, and I always imagine that I need to get to know Baha'u'llah better. Once before I thought of it in terms of starting all over, as if I had just now discovered Baha'u'llah. This time, thinking about how I might rediscover Him, I thought of studying and practicing passages from His writings addressed to the "people of Baha." I started with The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, because I haven't read it yet. The passage I'm studying now, from a letter to Napoleon III, is:

"O people of Baha! Subdue the citadels of men's hearts with the swords of wisdom and of utterance."

(Baha'u'llah, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 76)

After reading the whole letter, and pondering that passage again, I thought it might help me to memorize some more of Baha'u'llah's writings, so I chose this from Ruhi Book 6:

"Say: To assist Me is to teach My Cause. This is a theme with which whole Tablets are laden. This is the changeless commandment of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future."

(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 196)

That's from Tablet to Siyyid Mihdiy-i-Dahaji. I read the whole tablet, and found this:

"From the texts of the wondrous, heavenly Scriptures they should memorize phrases and passages bearing on various instances, so that in the course of their speech they may recite divine verses whenever the occasion demandeth it, inasmuch as these holy verses are the most potent elixir, the greatest and mightiest talisman."

(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 198)

Exactly what I was thinking!

I also noticed this:

"In such manner hath the Kitáb-i-Aqdas been revealed that it attracteth and embraceth all the divinely appointed Dispensations. Blessed those who peruse it. Blessed those who apprehend it. Blessed those who meditate upon it. Blessed those who ponder its meaning. So vast is its range that it hath encompassed all men ere their recognition of it. Ere long will its sovereign power, its pervasive influence and the greatness of its might be manifested on earth. Verily, thy God is the All-Knowing, the All-Informed."

(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 199)

Now I'm going through the Aqdas, memorizing each paragraph so I can ponder it all day long for a few days.