With the new year almost upon us, many people think about resolutions to enhance their lives for the coming year, 2021.

We often consider building up our physical selves with exercise programs, or energizing our minds with new classes and learning new skills, participating in book clubs or other intellectual avenues, or perhaps learning to play a new instrument. It is also never too late to decide to enrich our spiritual selves, and with the new year, this seems like the perfect time and aspiration.

By creating a spiritual toolbox, one can easily chart a path toward inner peace and a closer relationship with God. As with any toolbox, figuring out the right tools is essential. For me, I would choose these elements: prayer, meditation, reading and studying the Holy Words, and reflection upon the afterlife.

Prayer is probably the inner core of our spiritual lives. Having been taught since early childhood to say prayers to thank God, to ask God for help, to show our love for God, and to be near to God.

Abdul-Baha, the son of the Prophet-Founder of the Bahai Faith, mentioned: There is nothing sweeter in the world of existence than prayer. Man must live in a state of prayer. The most blessed condition is the condition of prayer and supplication. Prayer is conversation with God. The greatest attainment or the sweetest state is none other than conversation with God. It creates spirituality, creates mindfulness and celestial feelings, begets new attractions of the Kingdom and engenders the susceptibilities of the higher intelligence.

What a miraculous gift prayer is for us we can pray in privacy at our homes, pray while taking a walk, pray as we undertake a journey, pray when we have a difficult challenge, pray when we are feeling good or when we are feeling ill, and we can pray anywhere at any time. We can either pray from a prayer book, or memorize prayers to recite at any time, or even say prayers from our hearts.

Meditation, which basically means contemplation, reflection upon ourselves and our relation to God is equally as important as the other elements of our spiritual toolbox. Meditation how we meditate probably varies from person to person. Meditation allows us to turn off our thinking process and turn our soul passively to the world of spirit. Oftentimes after prayer, I contemplate my thoughts for praying, or reasons for conversing with God about challenges, and I sometimes figure out a clear path toward a dilemma.

Bahaullah, the Prophet-Founder of the Bahai Faith revealed: Meditate profoundly, that the secret of things unseen may be revealed unto you, that you may inhale the sweetness of a spiritual and imperishable fragrance, and that you may acknowledge the truth that from time immemorial, even unto eternity the Almighty hath tried, and will continue to try, His servants, so that light may be distinguished from darkness, truth from falsehood, right from wrong, guidance from error, happiness from misery, and roses from thorns.

The third component, reading and studying the Holy Words, is such a joyous time because, as spiritual beings, we feel closer to God by reading and learning more about Him. God has revealed His truths to mankind in all the holy writings of all the major religions.

The following writing from Abdul-Baha explains this closeness to God: Divine things are too deep to be expressed in common words. The heavenly teachings are expressed in parable in order to be understood and preserved for ages to come. When the spiritually minded dive deeply into the ocean of their meanings they bring to the surface the pearls of their inner significance. There is no greater pleasure than to study Gods Word with a spiritual mind.

Reflection upon the afterlife is another element for our spiritual toolbox. While on this earth, we can only think about what our lives will be like when we shed our physical bodies and our soul passes on.

However, Bahaullah, states: Thou hast, moreover, asked Me concerning the state of the soul after its separation from the body. Know, thou, of a truth, that if the soul of man hath walked in the ways of God, it will, assuredly, return and be gathered to the glory of the Beloved. By the righteousness of God! It shall attain a station such as no pen can depict, or tongue describe. The soul that hath remained faithful to the Cause of God, and stood unwaveringly firm in His Path shall, after his ascension, be possessed of such power that all the worlds which the Almighty hath created can benefit through him.

Focusing on further developing our spiritual qualities, or virtues kindness, selflessness, helping those in need ( the sick, the poor), thoughtfulness, compassion, courage, faith, generosity, trustworthiness, unity, sacrifice, justice and many others can guide us in our daily lives as we strive to become closer to God.

Bahaullah has revealed: Wert thou to attain to but a dewdrop of the crystal waters of divine knowledge, thou wouldst readily realize that true life is not the life of the flesh but of the spirit. For the life of the flesh is common to both men and animals, whereas the life of the spirit is possessed only by the pure in heart who have quaffed from the ocean of faith and partaken of the fruit of certitude. This life knoweth no death, and this existence is crowned by immortality.

Susan Haines is a retired teacher and reading specialist who found the Bahai faith as a teenager, traveling to a Bahai Summer Institute, Green Acre, in Maine. Having lived in Frederick County for over 40 years, she serves as the Bahai public information officer for the Bahais of Frederick.

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Words of Faith: Creating a spiritual toolbox | Religion - Frederick News Post