Courage and Teaching the Bahá’í Faith
This is me, skydiving!
by Susan Gammage, Baha'i Life Coach
I’ve been meaning to write a blog for quite awhile, and the task seemed too daunting, so I’ve been putting it off, finding other things to do. Lying awake for several hours the other night, what came to me was the degree of terror it’s causing me – to put myself and my ideas out there for people to see and judge; afraid I’ll come across as sanctimonious, or “know-it-all”, or “holier than thou”, or even worse, perfect!
As I prepare the content of my new website, advertising my skills as a Bahá’í-inspired life coach, I realize just how much courage it will take for me to “go live”, and the following quote came to mind.
The source of courage and power is the promotion of the Word of God, and steadfastness in His Love. (Bahá’u'lláh, Bahá’í World Faith, p. 141.)
A few years ago, I pioneered to Labrador, a remote part of Canada, a virgin territory where the closest Bahá’í was 8 hours away. I’ll never forget the day I got on the plane with a desire to serve, a love for Bahá’u'lláh, a longing to teach and all my remaining earthly possessions: my cats and their food, bowls and kitty litter, my laptop, clothes, a pot, frying pan, 2 sets of cutlery, plates, bowls and mugs, (so I could invite someone for a meal) – everything I needed to get started in a new location. I looked at my keychain, void of keys. I’d sold my furniture, my car and didn’t have a place to live when I arrived or any contacts to help me find housing. Now that took courage!
When I turned 50, I wanted to do something really big, to symbolize leaving fear behind and walking confidently into the future, so I decided to go skydiving! During the half hour flight to the drop zone, my smile was as wide as it’s ever been – until they opened the door! And then, I experienced a degree of terror such as I’ve never known! Fortunately I’d planned for this eventuality, deciding on a tandem jump, so the jumpmaster’s job was to peel my hands off the back of the pilot’s seat and push me out of the plane! (you can see the pictures on the website, once it’s up).
As soon as we were in free-fall, all the fear had gone, and my smile was back. Even though we were hurtling down to the ground for 6000 feet of freefall before pulling the cord of the parachute, there was no sense of falling. Instead, it felt as if I was suspended in mid-air, held safely in the hands of God, and I wanted to stay that way forever.
The “source of all courage is the promotion of Word of God, and steadfastness in His Love” – would I have been able to make that jump if I hadn’t been actively teaching? Something for me to ponder and be grateful!
Susan — I love that picture!What an amazing experience that must have been!!
I don’t know if I could ever jump out of a plane. Have to honour that courage.
My story comes from an experience in Africa, the day an old lady who was an aunt of one of the Baha’is, and who I had approached to join a Ruhi 1 group, told me that she was going to write a note for me to take to the teacher at the nearby school so I could have a group with a few of the students. I naively set off to the school and handed the note to the teacher, who started calling the girls- about fifty of them. She put one chair in the courtyard and said, this lady is going to talk to you about Baha’u'llah!
I think that is why teaching this Faith brings courage, because it is really unthinkable to say no, I am not going to speak when invited in this way (even if you were previously a very shy person). When you look at the results too, it is pretty amazing. One of the girls took my phone number ( I don’t even remember that happening)and invited me to her family home the following Easter holiday- long story short- she became a Baha’i, did all the Ruhi training, as did her brother, and taught Ruhi 1 and 2 to at least fifty members of her family who lived in the communities up on the mountains.
Sometimes just the motive and the love can carry you to be ‘the hollow reed’ and share what you can with others, no matter how scary that could have been.
That’s a great story, Sandy! Thanks for sharing! It will be a lot of fun to meet your “spiritual offspring” in the next world, won’t it?!