I Blog Poetry and Prose

A Butterfly Lighting Her Candle

Istiqlál (Independence), 18 Jalál (Glory) 176 B.E. - Friday, April 26, 2019

"These energies with which the Day Star of Divine bounty and Source of heavenly guidance hath endowed the reality of man lie, however, latent within him, even as the flame is hidden within the candle and the rays of light are potentially present in the lamp. The radiance of these energies may be obscured by worldly desires even as the light of the sun can be concealed beneath the dust and dross which cover the mirror. Neither the candle nor the lamp can be lighted through their own unaided efforts, nor can it ever be possible for the mirror to free itself from its dross. It is clear and evident that until a fire is kindled the lamp will never be ignited, and unless the dross is blotted out from the face of the mirror it can never represent the image of the sun nor reflect its light and glory."

Baha’u’llah1

I am a butterfly
encased in her cocoon
going through the process of transformation.

Sometimes the blog prompts don't inspire me. I'm not sure why, unless it's an indication I need to change something about the way I make my blog entries. (I think I've written that before, but I'm just too tired this morning to go looking through blog and journal entries to find out.) I've decided to go back to the one day a week gratitude list on Thursday. I plan to continue blogging everyday; however, I'm going to attempt to start the entry the night before instead of waiting to the next day.

I am lighting my candle
through prayer and meditation
on the scriptures revealed by The Bab and Baha'u'llah.

I think the move, in December 2018, disrupted my routine more than I thought. There was the move, followed by the mouse problems in this apartment, and now there is the issue of dust mite, itch mites, or whatever. I can't sleep knowing they are there. I can't sleep feeling them crawling on me and stinging me. Last night, about midnight, I got up, took everything off my recliner, sprayed it with rubbing alcohol, put the bedclothes back on, and attempted to go to sleep. The rubbing alcohol didn't help. However, since it's my only option--at this time--I will make another attempt this afternoon.

I can't sleep in the recliner. I can't read prayers in the recliner. The only thing I can do is itch or apply cortisone cream to the areas of itching. I can set in my walker and say prayers, but I can't sleep in the walker. I finally went back to the recliner about 3:30 a.m. and got a little sleep, unless that was a dream.

Footnotes
1  Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 65.