Hello Beautiful Souls!

Our guest speaker Dean Martineau gave us a thought provoking definition of grace. His favorite definition of the word grace is "The unmerited divine assistance give to humans for their regeneration or sanctification." The Baha'i faith believes that humanity is living within a time of a new dispensation of the grace of God.

 According to Dean, the grace of God  could be likened to a benefactor who sees group of people who are in need of benevolence and is willing to assist them in every way, but the people don't even know that they need help to improve their condition, but once made aware of it, they do not utilize their free will to take the help. What is it about us humans that causes us to turn our faces from what is good for us when God/Spirit/Universe loves humanity enough to want to co-create with us for our greatest and highest good?

In our  humanness, it is easy to give up on or even withhold grace from others. At what point does God/Spirit/Universe's grace evaporate? According to the Baha'i faith, it does not, it is an unending and renewable resource, and blessed is the man or woman who takes advantage of that grace. I think about how easy it is in times of crisis that the words 'Oh my God!!" slips from our mouths as a prayer for that divine, unmerited favor. Is there a way to avail ourselves of the grace of God/Spirit/Universe without getting ourselves into dire circumstances? I believe we can by being mindful of how we've been shown grace and to express our gratitude for it by being benevolent ourselves, showing unmerited favor in our interactions with others.

Grace, like faith is a multifaceted topic and we thank you Dean for giving us a lot to ponder on about the nature of grace from a Baha'i perspective.

In gratitude,

Shamamma Bean