Location
I helped teach a Santa Rosa Baha'i-sponsored children's class Tuesday of this week. The spring afternoon was bursting with new life, warm air, lovely breezes and blooming wisteria. Even more beautiful than the day was the experience of helping the eight children work on different coloring projects in preparation for their presentation in circle. The presentation was centered around a beautiful Baha'i prayer, Blessed Is The Spot. This prayer was chosen for its imagery, simplicity and universality of appeal. Here are the words:
Blessed is the spot, and the house,
and the place, and the city,
and the heart, and the mountain,
and the refuge, and the cave,
and the valley, and the land,
and the sea, and the island,
and the meadow where mention
of God hath been made,
and His praise glorified.
Here is the video of Blessed is the Spot sung by Seals and Crofts:
Some words like 'house' or 'heart' were easy for the children to understand and draw. Other words were more difficult to show, like 'refuge' and 'cave'. Still the children managed to come up with original ways of depicting each area mentioned in the prayer. One of the littlest boys enjoyed coloring and smoothing almost the entire paper with a deep blue crayon. Then he drew a big smile with two eyes at the top (my photo of it didn't come out-sorry). We decided that that picture represented the part of the prayer "and His praise glorified". After finishing their artwork they then filed into a circle where the prayer was sung a few times, each child holding up their art depiction of a portion of the prayer when it was their turn. Soon they will know the prayer (or the song!) by heart.