On the True Purpose of Our Global Enterprise: To bind hearts together

While visiting with Zabine during lunch on Sunday at the Portland Baha’i Regional Conference, we talked teaching. She pulled out of her purse a flash drive with precious files on it. “Do you have your laptop?” she asked. “It’s in the car. I’ll go get it,” I answered. Some 122,020 downloaded kilobytes later, I had what might be termed her life’s work on my computer, and some other slide shows in progress. Here is the text from two of the hundreds of slides she kindly shared with me. -gw

“…In such moments, we implore Him to illumine their souls with the light of knowledge and faith. Let them not underestimate the power inherent in the system they are putting in place for the propagation of His Faith nor mistake the true purpose of the global enterprise on which they have embarked. …Let them not fail to appreciate the value of the culture now taken root in the community that promotes the systematic study of the Creative Word in small groups in order to build capacity for service. …May they be diligent in their efforts to establish ties of friendship that show no regard for prevalent barriers for friendship and ceaselessly endeavor to bind hearts together in the love of God…”

Letter of 10-20-2008, Universal House of Justice

“We must reflect as individuals about our own contributions to the minor plan of God. You know the Hidden Word, “Bring thyself to account each day”. This reflection on our own actions is how we do this. The Universal House of Justice gives us these plans, like the Five Year Plan, and we can gauge our contributions to the minor plan of God by each day reflecting or our contribution to the current plan of the House of Justice.”. 

Opening Address to the Regional Bahá’íConference in Manila, 29 November 2008, by Dr. Penny Walker, Representative of the Universal House of Justice and Counsellor, Member of the International Teaching Center